Hello, and a very warm welcome to this August bank holiday edition of the MIS Online Bulletin.

Before we get on with this week’s missive, we urge you to check our Carl’s web site at www.chas-smash.com, which has finally burst into life and now features news, photos, upcoming events and more.

Take a look, and once you’ve explored the site get yourselves back here and enjoy the issue.

Jon Young, Liz Hazelby, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts

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

August 31st, 2pm, Blackpool Lights Weekend

September 14th, Madness play Free at Applepop Holland.  21.25pm at The hoofdapodium – http://www.appelpop.nl/

September 15th Rockhal, Belval, Luxembourg
September 16th L’Olympia, Paris, France
September 22nd Northants CCC, UK
September 28th Alexandra Palace, London, UK

October 12th Esprit Arena, Duesseldorf, Germany

November 22nd – 25th House Of Fun Weekender, Minehead, UK

For tickets see links via: www.madness.co.uk

Suggs Live

Suggs My Life Story, the West End of London December Run.

http://www.nimaxtheatres.com/garrick-theatre/suggs_my_life_story_in_words_and_music

December 1st     – Garrick Theatre, London’s West End.
December 8th     – Garrick Theatre, London’s West End.
December 15th  – Garrick Theatre, London’s West End.
December 22nd  – Garrick Theatre, London’s West End.

The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra

September 7th, Meatopia, Wapping (www.meatopia.co.uk)

October 2nd Brighton, Concorde 2
October 3rd Cardiff, Globe
October 4th St Albans, Arena
October 5th Norwich, Waterfront
October 18th Ipswich, Corn Exchange
October 25th Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
October 31st (Halloween)  Jazz Cafe, Camden Town.

November 1st, Komedia, Bath
November 8th, headlining the Friday of Specialized, The Big One 2, Parkdean, Sandford, Dorset

See ticket links via: www.ltso.mis-online.net

Deaf School

August 26th Liverpool, Sefton Park – International Music Festival

*** NEW *** Saturday, 19th October, Liverpool, East Village Arts Club
*** NEW *** Thursday 24th October, Jazz Café, Camden Town, Book Launch

More info at: http://deafschoolmusic.com

Cathal Mo Chroi

Friday September 13th. – Part of The Number 6 Festival. Portmeirion Wales. First airing of solo songs, at The Town Hall, in a slot run by composer Joe Duddell adding strings and harp to the songs.

BUY IT NOW

If money’s currently burning a hole in your pocket then perhaps we can help with your dilemma.

*** NEW *** Pre- Order The Magic Brothers Single.

The debut Magic Brothers single “You Don’t Have to Hide Your Love Away” is now available to pre order on iTunes.  The single mix is a slightly different EQ to the album version of the track – The Vocals are a little higher in the mix.

Pre-order it now.  It’s out September 2nd.

The Liberty Of Norton Folgate – Reissue on Salvo

This edition is retailing at just over £5.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Liberty-Of-Norton-Folgate/dp/B00DB51OTM/ref=ntt_mus_dp_dpt_1

Fu Man Chu 7” Single

Fu Man Chu has been made into a 7 inch vinyl single. Pressed as a limited run, and licensed for sale, it’s predominately created for the DJ Japan market. But ,if you want to grab one phone Rads on 07940293945 to confirm and you’ll be given the address to send money to.

£4.50 for one £7.50 for 2. Basically £3 each plus postage. Cheque to R Shand.

Pre-Order Available – Take it or Leave it Re-release With Soundtrack CD

Following the sell-out of the Gogglebox box set, the Madness movie has been sadly unavailable. From October 7th it’s back, thanks to those lovely people at Salvo sound and vision.

This is being re-released for the first time with a nearly complete soundtrack CD of all the tracks from the movie, including a couple of old rock and roll numbers by the original artists. Namely Fat’s Domino, and The Four Tops, along with all of  Madness’s tracks which are heard throughout the movie.

There’s new packaging for this re-release which will be available from music stores and online outlets, for under a tenner. This release also and contains a booklet containing information about the film.

Mad Not Mad Fanzine – Summer 2013 Edition

Reviewed in issue 743 of the MIS, this latest edition of Ian Taylor’s Madness/Ska-zine spans a whopping 70 plus pages and features a CD covermount in the form of “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow”, by Too Many Crooks.

Priced at a mere £5 delivered (for UK readers. Those oversees will need to check), this is amazing value for money and is absolutely bursting with content.

For order enquiries and more information, you can contact Ian Taylor of Mad Not Mad at bige70@blueyonder.co.uk

Hopefully, the bigger response Ian gets the less of a wait we’ll have until the next issue surfaces!

MIS FEATURE

A Short Chat With Woody

Over the course of the last couple of months I’ve been lucky enough to have the occasional conversation with Daniel ‘Woody’ Woodgate via his Facebook page. I decided that with the release date of The Magic Brothers’ single and album fast approaching that it would be a good time to ask him if I could quote him on a few bits to include in the MIS Online from those conversations. He said yes, so here goes. NB This was not an interview. It’s a few bits of a few conversations…  I don’t expect there to be many bombshells or exclusives, but if we learn anything it is that Woody is a thoroughly engaging and modest bloke. And he is an evil genius!

The first thing I asked Woody was whether he had a label for the Magic Brothers release. His reply was that he had created his own label DW Records for the project. I mentioned that the last two Madness albums had done well with self-releasing, as had the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra’s. I also hinted that these deals tend to let the artists retain ownership of their recordings. At that time Amazon.co.uk only had details of the download version of the album so I asked if there would be a CD. Woody’s very confident reply was “It’s all mine. I’ve got complete ownership, and yes I will be releasing a CD, and downloads, and merchandise.”  I told Woody this made him sound like an evil genius. He replied with two words: “I am!”. So that’s me covered if he tries to sue me for libel!

Moving back to the music and his forthcoming release with his brother Nick I asked “is your main role drums/compositions? Or should we expect vocals or other instruments from you? I read a reply the other day that you can programme most instruments”. Inpatient for answers I added: “is Leon you/teaching/Madness or is it anyone who wants to change their life?”.

Here’s Woody: “I play keyboards on some tracks, but mostly programming. I mixed the album too. No singing.” 
 
“ Leon is about a teacher stuck in a dead end job, but could be about anyone stuck in a world they want to escape from.”

As well as these serious musical/production questions I also wanted to know more about the real Woody. You know the stuff we’re not been able to easily find out since Smash Hits closed down (probably) so I thought it best to butter Woody up with some gushing praise before moving on to the big one: “I got the impression that Leon could be about you as there are a few songs about being at a crossroads on the album [Oui Oui Si Si Ja JA Da Da], if it has a theme. I forgot to say that it is the second best track on the album, behind only Small World. Both have plenty to say and say it whilst sounding dead poppy (in the way that great pop is great) on Leon and lushly orchestrated on Small World. “

Sensing the time was right I went for the big question: “What’s your favourite colour? [joke!]”. I then waited and waited and waited. Hours passed, then sleep passed, then days passed as Woody was busy with better things to do than talk to me. Then out of the blue three days later he replied: “Green (true)”.

And with that important news I asked Woody about Minehead setlist rumours (that I genuinely read on Facebook the other day): “Any secret news on what you might be playing at Minehead please? I just read a rumour that it is One Step Beyond… in full.”. His reply was the brilliantly diplomatic: “Don’t know yet?”.

So now you know (or don’t know) as much as I know (or don’t know).

Hopefully I’ll be able to get some more flakes of information from Woody as time marches on, but for now I’m done.

Paul Rodgers

MADMEET TIME!

The Magic Brothers Madmeet

Dublin Castle. 12 Oclock Till 1.40pm.  Early Doors.  September 28th. Before the Madness Filming 3pm at Alexander Palace.

MIS presents a toast to The Magic Line by The Magic Brothers. The band’s debut album is due out on September 30th, but on September 28th The Dublin Castle will be installing the new album into their Juxebox and we’ll be playing the album in full for all to hear for the first time. The magic starts mid-day with 12 tracks of orchestrated brilliance from the Woodgate brothers song writing team.

(Commitment permitting) The Magic Brothers themselves, Woody & Nick, will be attending, along with their web team, and you may even be able to get your hands on the new band T-shirts as well as these may also be on sale. The merchandise line will also be available at a later date from the website.

If there is time, the duo may also sign T-shirts.

“There was something in our hearts.” There will be a competition and one lucky fan will win the magic line album, (and we’ve some Take it or Leave it bonus, too.)  On the day you can enter our card competition. We will have a deck of cards. If you select the King of hearts then you’ll be the winner of the album on CD. “You don’t have to hide your love away.”

Then as we all leave for Alexander Palace filming and fun just before 2pm, we will briefly visit the actual “Magic Line” at the point where it crosses Camden. The last track on the album is an atmospheric ambient piece that portrays a railway line much travelled to school by the brothers in the 70’s.

Start your day with Magic on the 28th and join us.

For more info, point your browser over to:

https://www.facebook.com/events/230333307110466/314610698682726

Jonathan Young

I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN

This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby, goes back 5 years to issue 486, and the week of Sunday 24th August to Saturday 30th August 2008, and then back 10 years to issue 224 and the week of Sunday 24th August to Saturday 30th August 2003.

5 years ago…

Issue 486 – Sunday 24th August to Saturday 30th August 2008

We began with our glasses raised, because as this issue of the MIS went to press it was Bedders’ 47th birthday. Although most people were no doubt out and about, and making the most of the extended weekend (well, here in the UK, at least) it was nice to see that Madness Trading Ring subscribers taking time out to post over on the Madness Trading Ring with their birthday well wishes.

The articles got underway this week with a transcript of episode one of Adam Nicholls’ Nutty Radio, a Madness themed music and talk show streamed live over the internet. For obvious reasons, commercially available Madness tracks wouldn’t be streamed, but demos and bootleg tracks would be aired instead.

It was over to Jonathan Young next, who reported that following his two nights of Hackney gigs, his 400 word review of the two shows was now in print in the latest edition of the Scootering fanzine. As the review was an exclusive for the zine Jonathan promised that it wouldn’t be appearing in the MIS this year.

A new website dubbed Instigate Debate, officially launched in Britain on Aug 16th, and was promoted at the V Festival. Its aims were sort of a “dumming up” or maybe a “smartening up” of celebrity interviews. It urged people to politely ask and interview, on video, celebs and ask sociology and political questions.

A number of high profile celebrities had already been interviewed, including the one and only Suggs. Coming in two parts, we featured a transcript of part one in this very issue.

Sky TV news now, and it was this week that we learned that the company would be launching Sky Arts 1 and 2 to the UK. Highlights on these channels would include  Suggs’ Italian Job, an Italian travelogue; Art Rocks, which investigates the artistic talents of musicians like Iggy Pop and Moby; and Mariella Frostrup’s The Book Show.

On to frozen peas next, and we featured a press release from frozen food purveyor, BirdsEye, who announced that they’d be spending a massive £2 million on a drive to promote its peas, and dispelling the idea that they weren’t as healthy as other vegetables.

The push, created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, would be spearheaded by TV ads due to run from 1 September that featured a fight between a tiny computer generated man made of peas and some broccoli, watched by ex-Madness frontman and Birds Eye brand ambassador Suggs and a group of children.

At the end of the ad, Suggs would declare the pea character the victor because peas contain more iron than broccoli.

A print campaign would break two weeks after the roll out of the TV work. Birds Eye would also link up with News of the World to give away a free meal-planner encouraging families to use peas.

We brought this issue of the MIS to a close with the news that Bristol based ska band The Communicators, were about to release their first album, Care in the Communicators, and that it would be available via iTunes from October.

10 years ago…

Issue 224 – Sunday 24th August to Saturday 30th August 2003.

We started off this week’s issue with some slightly unusual subject matter as a number of MIS subscribers had informed us that they’d been receiving emails containing viruses from the MIS. It turned out that the emails had been made to look like they’d been sent from us, but they’d actually come from an unknown source.

On to more Madness related news, and a post in from subscriber Duff Kelly reported on rumours that during the final week’s performance of the Our House musical TV crews were present, capturing the performances with the intention of airing the recording on BBC3 around Christmas, with a video and DVD release in the new year.

Moving on, and we continued with the issue with a bit of birthday news, as ten years ago today saw Mark Bedford reach the ripe old age of 42. MIS Online wondered if any web sites would mention this important day. After a quick search with Google, we were pleasantly surprised to find a nice lowdown on Mark and the band in general from the VH1 web site way back in (we think) 1999…

Meanwhile, news in from Birchy revealed that a Madness gig would be aired on BBC’s 6 Music on Bank Holiday Monday. Unfortunately this was all we had to go on, meaning we’d all have to wait and see to find out if this was some previously un-aired gem, or yet another airing of one of the Madstock concerts.

Rob Hazelby

LIVE AND INTENSIFIED

Reviews and write-ups of live gigs. You’ll find them here.

This review comes from the excellent blog site by Julie Hamill. In the past Julia has penned interviews with Mark and Clive that we’ve featured in the MIS.

Deaf School on stage with guest Kevin Rowland  – August 23rd, Hoxton

I’m ashamed to say it, but I haven’t seen Deaf School before.  They passed me by in the seventies – well, I was only two when they formed in 1973, and kind of into Andy Stewart – but in the last six months and just forty years later I started listening, and now I can’t stop.

Crash course/late adoption aside, the natural next step in my schooling of these infectiously quirky big tunes was to see the band perform, so last night I hopped along to Hoxton with three others to watch what wasn’t a gig, but some kind of amazing party.

We stood near the bar (Suggs was beside us) and had an excellent view of Clive Langer’s ripping guitar solo that kicked it off, getting the hard core Hawaiian shirted down-the-front Deafsters warmed up.

One of the singers, Enrico, sidled coolly on stage, and began an evening of charismatic storytelling in song, waving his handkerchief and conducting the crowd to fill in the words.  It was this interaction, humour and relationship with the fans that elevated the night from a gig to a show, as he threw out the fun and the crowd pelted back love.  His co-singer, Bette Bright, stood beside him.  Like the name, she is illuminating; and when performing a ballad she easily rivals Shirley Bassey (with the sass of Betty Boop).  The band and fans were as one, unable to exist without the other, making the atmosphere one of full hearted happiness, best represented by the almost permanent grin on Ian Ritchie, the saxophonist’s face (I don’t think he can play without smiling).

The sound is part rock n roll (Langer’s guitar), part cabaret (Cadillac Jnr/Bright’s late night jazz chat/song) but then there’s punk, cabaret, pop and 50% God knows what thrown in there by the rest of the band’s characters, including ‘Rev. Max Ripple’ (Keyboards) ‘Average’ (bass) and the new drummer (Gregg Braden) who played his skins off.  Individually, they all seem to do what they want, go off on tangents and play what they like, but these are not tangents, this is part of the plan, and it syncs together with a sharpness that can only be brought from the experience of working together for so long and finishing each others notes.

A highlight was guest singer Kevin Rowland who joined the on-stage party, for ‘Hi Jo Hi’.  But there were so many highlights – ‘Taxi’, ‘What a Way To End It All’, ‘Second Honeymoon’ (for the crowd singing ‘Honeeeymooon’), ‘Where’s The Weekend’ (’where’s the money’) ‘Knock Knock Knocking’, ‘Final Act’…

So my conclusion to the Deaf schooling is to try not to understand or categorise this band, they exist in a precious place all of their own – without comparison or competition – as that incredible big band you need to see before you die.

http://www.juliehamill.com

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Various articles that have caught our eye over the past week or so…

Suggs and Friends – Cancer Benefit Night

Wilko helps raise £100,000 for cancer fight: Terminal cancer victim Wilko Johnson took a leading part in a recent gala night to celebrate the memory of Madness singer Suggs’ sister-in-law, who passed away from the killer disease.

http://blog.thebluesmag.com/post/57265164922/wilko-helps-raise-100-000-for-cancer-fight

Below you’ll find a link to footage from the benefit night, including a version of My Girl duet between Beau Bruce and Suggs.

And “Madness” as a group finale’ version.

TWEETS OF A DOVE

Random wafflings from Chris’ Cupboard, Twitter and Facebook.

Suggs

“Deaf School. Brilliant Theatrical. Yes check the deaf school web site, f#ckin brilliant tonight, kevin rowlands jumped up, yes they are playing up north!! Working class art!!”
“Proof copy of book arrived, its called ‘That close’ yeah, that close to goin in f#ckin bin about fifteen times over the last couple of years!”
There are also a number of tweets, about Viva waking her dad and giving him a new pet cat in a Jiffy bag (we stress it wasn’t sealed-in! This was an open bag), telling him he had to open the present right away!

TIME…

We’re almost done for this week’s issue, but before we go we’ve got a couple of last minute bits to pass your way.

First-up, and you may not be aware that Carl has recently set up a Facebook page to help promote his new solo venture. You can check it out by going to:

https://www.facebook.com/CathalmoChroi

And finally, if you’ve not yet entered you’ve only got one more week to take oart in the MIS Gladness beer competition, where you can win free beer and more.

To take part you simply need to name the Gladness beer mascot elephant. Once you have a name simply email it over to Jonsmad@hotmail.com along with your name. With the deadline passed Mark Bedford will then select the winner.

What are you waiting for? Get to it!

Until next week, take care,

Simon Roberts, Jon Young, Liz Hazelby, Rob Hazelby

(With thanks to Julie Hamill and Paul Rodgers)