We begin this issue with the news that Suggs has told Bangshowbiz that he’s currently on songs for the next Madness album. In the interview Suggs commented that fans could expect the album to come out near the end of 2014 and Madness would definitely be touring the record in December.

“It will probably be out at the end of the year and regardless of how albums sell these days – and our albums don’t sell too bad we kind of make a bit of money from our albums still – the plan is we’re going to do a big tour around Christmas time. The main thing is you’re doing new stuff, the people know you’re doing new stuff and it keeps the whole thing alive and keeps you alive.”

Additionally, Woody recently told the MIS that his song writing for submission to the album had already taken place at the start of the year and that he’s now moved over to working on the next Magic Brothers album.

You can see The Magic Bothers performing their third Dublin Castle gig this coming Thursday, and we’ll be there to witness it. Come and join us. Meanwhile, here’s a new song from the band’s first DC gig, called “Something”.

In this issue you’ll find Darren West’s review of the second Magic Brothers DC gig, and the BIG news for The Magic Brothers and Specialized is that the band are announced as headlining the Friday leg of The Big One 3 event at Park Dean, Dorset this November.

The massive weekender is the culmination of this years’ Mad not Cancer campaign, and is set to be a great party.

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

June 2014

June 28th, Night in the Park, Den Haagm Netherlands, http://www.nightatthepark.nl/
*** NEW *** June 27th Jiwapop Festival, Montcada, Spain
June 29th, Tivoli Utrecht, Netherlands http://tivoli.nl/

August 2014

*** NEW *** August 12th Mallorca Rocks
*** NEW *** August 13th Ibiza Rocks
August 18th, Kubana Festival, Krasnodar, Vesolovka

November 2014

November 21st – 24th 2014 – Minehead – Earlybird tickets can be ordered here: http://www.bigweekends.com/splash-pages/madness2014.aspx

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

Suggs Live

April 2014

2nd – Newbury Corn Exchange
3rd – Loughborough Town Hall
4th – Wakefield Theatre Royal
5th – Southport The Atkinson Theatre
6th – Runcorn The Brindley
8th – Mansfield Palace Theatre
9th – Stamford Corn Exchange
11th – Isle of Wight Shaklin Theatre
12th – Aldershot Princes Hall
13th – Wimborne Tivoli Theatre
15th – Bury St Edmonds The Apex
16th – Tunbridge Wells, Assembly Hall
17th – Stroud Subscription Rooms
22nd – Chelmsford Civic Theatre
23rd – Stevenage Gordon Craig Theatre
24th – Redditch Palace Theatre
25th – Malvern Forum Theatre
26th – Margate Winter Gardens
27th – Northampton Derngate
29th – Bolton Albert Halls
30th – Darlington Civic Theatre

May 2014

1st – Newark Palace Theatre
2nd – Redhill Harlequin Theatre
3rd – Watford Colosseum
4th – Yeovil Octagon Theatre
10th – DUBLIN Olympia Theatre
13th – Harlow Playhouse
14th – Lowestoft Marina Theatre
15th – Eastbourne – Royal Hippodrome
16th – Leamington Royal Spa Centre
17th – Jersey Opera House
19th – Milton Keynes The Stables
20th – Winchester Theatre Royal
21st – Epsom Playhouse
22nd – Kettering Lighthouse Theatre
23rd May at Cardiff College of Music and Drama
27th May at Bury St Edmunds The Apex
29th May at Derry Millennium Forum
30th May at Belfast Ulster Hall

June 2014

1st June, The Garrick, London

The Magic Brothers

Thursday 27th March, Dublin Castle, Camden, London
Thursday 3rd April, Dublin Castle, Camden, London
Thursday 24th April, Dublin Castle, Camden, London

Ticket info at: http://www.bugbearbookings.com/dublin-castle/

The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra

May 2014

May 25 Strummer Camp Manchester

June 2014

*** NEW *** June 1st, Wychwood Festival
June 29th Glastonbury Festival

July 2014

July 19 Summer Breeze Fest Swindon
*** NEW *** July 26th Wickerman Festival

August 2014

August 31st, The Big Feastival, Alex James’ Farm, Cotswolds

More festival dates to follow.

Ska Orchestra web site: www.ltso.mis-online.net

Lee Thompson DJ

Saturday 5th April, Ska Night, Guest DJ Lee Thompson, Wilsons, Runcorn, Cheshire

The Lee Thompson Band (Lee’s other band, with Daley)

April 25th. The Hop Poles. Enfield
https://www.facebook.com/events/1387868218100592/

April 26th, The Black Horse, Barnet

Deaf School

August 10th, Rebellion Festival, Blackpool

For details of future gigs keep an eye on http://deafschoolmusic.com for more information.

Near Jazz Experience

April 29th, Indo, Whitechapel, London

BUY IT

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

The Specialized EP Featuring Lee Thompson

A 4 track vinyl EP featuring Lee’s track from the first specialized album and tracks by the Valves, Rhoda Dakar and Nick Welsh.

Should be in stock this coming week.

Thanks go to Chuck Wren and Jump Up Records, Stan from A&R Texas (pressing plant), and Mike Schneider of Indigo Iguana (design).

LOOK SO GOOD YA COULD LICK EM…. Will be available via

www.specializedproject.co.uk

The Specialized Big One 2. Live DVD.

For those wanting a copy of the DVD of the Big One 2 event we can reveal that you can now pre-order your copy. This will be limited edition and available into the new year. As is the normal spec with Specialized, all proceeds go to the Teenage Cancer Trust.

We are very pleased to say that the Specialized Big One 2 DVD has gone to production! So, those of you have ordered a copy, yours will be with you very shortly. Thanks for your patience. The film makers did it all for free, including the editing of over 60 hours of footage. There will be also a small bonus DVD included

Welcome to Specialized Project official website

LTSO, Bangarang, Featuring Dawn Penn

Single release date March 24th.

The Magic Line Album * Out Now! *

Signed T-shirt packages and a deluxe edition.

http://www.magicbrothers.com/topspin-store/all/

A range of Magic Brothers T-shirts, Polo Shirts are now available to buy.

The CD album is available via Amazon and the download via iTunes contains an interview with Phil Jupitus talking to Woody about the album. But if you buy the album via the official band site you can choose a signed option or bundle.

If you’ve a spare £75 and are really into the magic, then there are 25 packs going fast that include all of this….

The Magic Line Collectors Pack – Limited Edition of 25 includes; The Magic Line Signed CD Album. The Magic Line Digital Download. The Magic Line T Shirt. Woodys Drumsticks Signed. Nicks Guitar Paick Signed. Copy of Album Lyrics. “Thank You” Phone Call From Woody & Nick.

Our thanks go to Paul Smart for the above

Suggs “The Close” Signed Book

Suggs is one of pop music’s most enduring and likeable figures. Written with the assured style and wit of a natural raconteur, this hugely entertaining and insightful autobiography takes you from his colourful early life on a North London council estate, through the heady early days of Punk and 2-Tone, to the eighties, where Madness became the biggest selling singles band of the decade. Along the way he tells you what it’s like to grow up in sixties Soho, go globetrotting with your best mates, to make a dead pigeon fly and cause an earthquake in Finsbury Park.

Suggs is a singer, songwriter, DJ, actor and TV presenter. He is perhaps best known as lead singer with Madness, who have had 24 top-twenty hits and continue to tour. Suggs lives in Camden, London.

– Features unseen and exclusive lyrics.
- 352 pages.
- Hardback.

http://www.recordstore.co.uk/search.html?term=suggs

Louis Vause – Midnight in Havana

“Oh dear. I’m alive..!” Pianist Louis Vause has always said that his albums are “Gouged out of him by circumstance” but his third album ‘Midnight In Havana’really is a case in point.

Recorded as a valedictory set, a swansong if you like, after he was told that the onset of cancer meant that he had mere months to live, the completion of the work coincided with his liver transplant and the all clear. He was in the pink. The same could not be said for his credit cards which had covered Louis’ uncharacteristically cavalier spending on recording costs.

http://www.cadizmusic.com/2007/index.php?location=/web/Catalogue/CADIZCD119

Mark Adamson of the Deaf School Website gives us an exclusive quote or two from Suggs, on the forthcoming Deaf School Book.

Deaf School – the story is told at last!

“For me, the gigs Deaf School have done recently have been some of the best I’ve seen by any band.”

So writes Suggs in his foreword to a book, published this month amid a flurry of Deaf School gigs and other Book Launch events, charting the creation and career of a band that influenced so many artists that followed – and that still fills venues 40 years after their debut at the Liverpool School of Art Christmas Dance.

Deaf School had a huge impact on Madness (Suggs: “Back in my youth I met some characters who were a right bunch, but what we had in common was that we loved Deaf School.”) – not least, of course, because guitarist Clive Langer’s became Madness producer and because Suggs married Deaf School singer Bette Bright!

Written by leading rock music writer, author and broadcaster Paul du Noyer, a lifetime Deaf School fan, Deaf School: The Non-Stop Pop Art Punk Rock Party, is published later this month by the Liverpool University Press, priced at £14.99. Accompanying the publication of the book is a Deaf School exhibition, featuring original art works by band members, posters, photos, rare films of live performances, band stage costumes and much more.

The book is available from Deaf School’s website at www.deafschoolmusic.com

BEDDERS AND RUTLE ON SPECIALIZED

We were thrilled this week by the latest artists added to the forthcoming Mad not Cancer album roster. Returning Heros Swagga are back updating a classic, and we’ve ever heard Darren Fordham is going to make waves with his own track, but the BIG news this week was the joyous announcement that one of Madness would be in a supergroup with the most musical member of Monty Python’s wider team, the bonzo dog man Neil Innes himself!

Wow. We have 2 versions of the track ” Madness” appearing on Specialized 3. The first was announced with Urang Matang who have Dexys Big Jim Paterson on trombone – this’ll be a barnstormer as will the other version which is by Specialized regulars THE VALUES. In the past they have appeared with Roland Gift & Neol Davies/Horace Panter on Specialized.

This version of “Madness” will feature The Values with Paul Speare (Special AKA),Terry Edwards (Higsons), the add to that the legendary NEIL INNES ( Bonzo Dog Doodah Band/The Rutles/ Monty Python) and MARK BEDDERS BEDFORD on bass!. Yes- BEDDERS! yup him from MADNESS. The album just gets better n better.

Today “Embarrassment” By The Bighead arrived in style! What a rip roaring version-and a thumping “Grey Day” by The Humanitarians. Martin Blacks rugged acoustic “The Wizard” really is quality. What with a delightfully cheeky retro “Bed & Breakfast Man” by King Hammond, “Mistakes” perfectly done by The Rough Kutz n a ska oi mash up of Benny Bullfrog by Skoisters-It set up to be a ripper!

Lots more to come in yet – Hold on – its going to be a ride!

Ladies and gentlemen…..Back by popular demand are seasoned Specializers SWAGGA! Yep, the ska hip hop hybrid are performing the track “Don’t Quote Me On That” on Specialized 3 – Mad Not Cancer. The Brainchild of Essex songwriter /rapper Ray Gudge AKA The Rapskallion. Fusing ska, hip-hop, funk & punk all wrapped up with great lyrical storylines documenting life in modern Britain, taking in such subjects as wannabe Essex gangsters, the ASBO generation and the Americanisation of British culture. After the successes of “Stupid Marriage” and “Jackpot”, this track will be eagerly anticipated by the masses.

LIVE INTENSIFIED

Reviews of live performances and gigs.

Second Time With The Magic Brothers

I’m at the 2nd of the 5-night Magic Brothers residency at The Dublin Castle, Camden spanning early March through to late April. In particular, I’m keen to see if/how they evolve and whether they stick to the same set and running order of 12 songs that they played on opening night. Also, how will the new songs sound to me 2nd time around.

There is a modest crowd tonight keenly anticipating seeing the band, it’s an attentive and reasonably appreciative gathering. This includes Lee Thompson. Top Man to lend his support although upon arrival he did cheekily ask at the door if he was on the guest list!

I check out the set list before the bands arrival which is placed on stage at the foot of each mike stand. It’s identical to their debut night giving me a 2nd chance to listen to all the new tracks they played again. With a smaller crowd, Nick appears to be more relaxed playing the entire gig wearing shades – perhaps a nod to Suggs?

Opening salvo, Always Be With You has Nick gently singing his way through, followed by Downtown. Both sound good; really good. The overall sound seems better. Maybe this 159-capacity venue is built acoustically for modest crowds? Next up it’s new tune Friday Night, Sunday Morning. Tonight sounds superb. There’s a touch of a Madness lilt to it. I love this song.

The next tune is Ami Tumake BhaloBashi which in it’s native tongue Nick reliably informs us means “I Love You”. I don’t know if it’s because its title lyric is not in English; it just doesn’t work for me although it is a nice sentiment. Perhaps next time it’ll work better? However another new one, In Your Mind, soon makes up for it – Nick and the band are getting into their stride.

A couple more of the new ones have a distinctly ’70’s sound – one rock, the other funk; I think these were Come To Me and Magic Train. Both add further depth and breadth to the shimmering pop of their debut lp. They sound good and again demand another listen. Of tonight’s set, Smile isn’t played “I’ve got a bit of a sore throat and can’t reach the high note”, Nick explains on stage before going into the aforementioned Magic Train. The next song Mother, Nick refers to as “…being about the ‘inner mother’ in all of us”.

The set proper ends with the majestic You Don’t Have To Hide Your Love Away and we see 1st signs of some of the audience movin’ and a groovin’. It’s been a good, solid 2nd outing for the band and it’s fair to say they perform a touch better than their debut gig. Despite the relatively cramped conditions on stage the entire band perform very well. But what’s this? Woody is again allowing us punters to get our way with an encore. I’ve already called Friday Night, Sunday Morning. Woody and Nick both appear pleased that a new song gets a worthy acknowledgement and being greedy I wanna hear it again cos it sounded so good earlier tonight. I am grinning away as it sounds even better the 2nd time. The encore also has the majority of the crowd dancing away.

Just like their 1st gig, the encore seems to have the effect of ‘shackles off’ for the entire band. Fantastic! But we want more please! “In Your Mind”, I shout out. Woody readily agrees. I call out encouragingly “Go on, Nick” before they perform the tune for us. This also sounds really good – it’s great that the band are willing to again play 2 extra songs that gets most people dancing away. It’s left me wanting more which is a great sign for a new band.

Set List:

Always be with you
Downtown
Friday Night, Sunday Morning
Ami Tumake BhaloBashi
The River
Something
In Your Mind
Tysea Hill
Come To Me
Smile # listed – not played #
Magic Train
We’re All Going To Brighton
They Tell You
Mother
All Aboard The Train
You Don’t Have To Hide Your Love Away

Requested Encore:

Friday Night, Sunday Morning
In Your Mind

Darren West

SIGN OF THE TIMES

A collection of articles that have caught our eye over the course of the past week or so.

Suggs War Against Pancreatic Cancer
Source: The Express.co.uk

His daughter Viva, who works in events management, suggested a concert and last year £100,000 was raised. On Thursday it will be staged again featuring Suggs, Roger Daltrey, Jools Holland, The Voice runner-up Bo Bruce (whose mother died of pancreatic cancer) and Dr Feelgood star Wilko Johnson, who also has the disease.
Suggs says: “We are thrashing around in the dark when it comes to pancreatic cancer but there is work on lots of fronts. Symptoms usually appear late so screening would be a major breakthrough.”
Full article: http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/465466/Madness-main-man-Suggs-My-war-against-pancreatic-cancer

English ska band Madness have signed a new worldwide publishing deal with Imagem Music UK.
Source: http://uk.imagemmusic.com/news-uk.html
The new publishing deal came into effect at the end of last year. It covers their last three records – Wonderful (1999), The Liberty of Norton Folgate (2009) and Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da (2012).
Kim Frankiewicz, managing director at Imagem Music UK, said: ‘Madness are a fantastically British band; since the late 70s they’ve provided a sonic narrative to British culture. We’re absolutely delighted to be working with them moving forward, and also representing the last three albums from their stellar catalogue.’
Hugh Gadsdon, Madness manager added: ‘Imagem are an exciting, relatively new company, who over the last five years have demonstrated an energy and ambition which we could not ignore & wanted to be part of. The Madness team are looking forward to working closely with Kim and Imagem, as the band continue to tour globally and record great new music.’

Suggs Writing New Madness Album
Source: http://www.bangshowbiz.com/
Suggs has rediscovered his passion for songwriting and has been finding lyrical inspiration from the people he meets in his life. Speaking about the album, Suggs told BANG Showbiz: “We’re about to start (working on it), I’ve started writing some songs actually for the first time in a couple of years, I’ve been doing this one man show and I’ll be doing that again for two months in April and May, so I’m trying to write some songs now so I’ve got something to do with the band. I keep getting caught up in other things when the band are writing albums and I’ve just been throwing in scraps that have had hanging around for years. So I want it to be different this time.
“I’ve always written about characters and I’ve been trying to think about people in my life .. I’ve always written like that. Someone once said that the band made folk music and we were f***ing horrified, but then you realise the songs are about folk, you’re own folk.”

Suggs and Wilko Hit Stage For Fundraiser
Source: CamdenNewJoural.com
An Evening with Suggs and Friends, which took place at Porchester Hall in Bayswater, sold out for the second year running. Last year’s event raised over £100,000 for the charity.
Suggs, who lost his sister-in-law to the disease, was joined on stage for a rousing rendition of Prince Buster song Madness by Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko and pianist Jools.
Full article at: http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2014/mar/suggs-and-wilko-johnson-hit-stage-pancreatic-cancer-fund-raiser

I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN

This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby, goes back 5 years to issue 515, and the week of Sunday 15th March to Saturday 21st March 2009, and then back 10 years to issue 253 and the week of Sunday 14th February to Saturday 20th February 2004.

5 years ago…

Issue 516 – Sunday 22nd March to Saturday 28th March 2009

With only a few days to go until the Australian Tour kicks-off, we thought that it was time to introduce one Graham Bush to all of those who were geared-up and ready to attend one or more of the appearances down under. “Who?”, we heard you ask. Well, Graham was the latest in a long line of extended band members, and would be replacing Mark, who sadly, wouldn’t be on the tour.

Graham was a more than capable stand-in for Mark, and by our reckoning needed a nickname. “Bushers”, perhaps?

News had also reached us indicating that Lee Thompson had been reported as possibly being a late arrival due to passport problems, but we were assured that he would make it.

Those waiting for the box set to arrive this week would possibly have to wait that bit longer. Although The Box set was due for dispatch Monday (according to record store website), trackable orders were still saying “Pending”, so as such we advised you that deliveries could take a little longer.

Chris’ comments had ranged from “it’s dispatching tomorrow” to “could be a longer wait” or “Ok the album was in fact put together by a team of chimpanzees. They ate all the original box sets and also made tree houses out of the leftovers.”

Whatever, we just knew that it was going to be well worth the wait, and suggested that you might as well smile rather than fret, because that bursting desire wouldn’t make it come any quicker.

Meanwhile, talk of a single continued, with a remix of Forever Young apparently binned, and Dust Devil a likely contender.

Also, perhaps in relation to a Madness film, Suggs was spotted filming on the pier at Southwold on March 11th. It’s was certainly a busy time for our favourite band!

On to the articles, and we began by thanking Jamie over in the Madness official camp for getting us a whizbang incredible prize for the fans, and we had a great competition that would not only help Woody build up the donation box for his London Marathon charity, but it would also give you a chance at winning a pair of signed drumsticks from Woody Woods Woodgate himself. All you had to do was make a donation on his Just Giving Page.

Tech news now, and this was the week that the Madness Central forum got themselves set up on Twitter with their very own account. This would link alongside their website, MySpace, Facebook and Yahoo presences.

Finally, in festival news, the band had been confirmed as being part of the line-up for the forthcoming double festival Rock am Ring & Rock im Park in Germany, bringing their dates in the country to three after we’d recently announced the Berlin gig.

10 years ago…

Issue 254 – Sunday 21st March to Saturday 27th March 2004

We started this issue off with a write-up from Chris Wardell, following his night out in Camden at the ‘London Ska Festival 3′, which took place at The Underworld.

Chris commented that;

“Smoke Like A Fish and The Riffs stole the show, with two scorching sets which saw the 200 + crowd go bananas. King Django also played a cool set of ska, reggae and rap, which seemed to appeal to the youngsters in attendance”.

Next-up was one Dan Fossard, who sent us a text, highlighting a Suggs related article that had recently cropped-up on Teletext.

The article turned out to be quite a lengthy piece relating to Suggs’ latest series of Salvage Squad, and thankfully MIS subscriber Mr. G had saved us a mountain of time by kindly typing up the whole thing for us. What a star!

With the recent Madness Weekender at Butlins, Bognor Regis already becoming a drunken blur, we caught up with attendee, Gary Saunders on MSN, and asked if he’d be kind enough to know up a review of the event. Never the one to let us down, he was more than happy to oblige.

The whole meet centred around the Eighties Weekends that Butlins often stage out of season, and whilst the drinks (in Gary’s words) “cost an arm and a leg”, it seemed as if all present had a fantastic time.

Elsewhere, and we’re sure Chassmash.com were gearing up for a real hammering of their servers, following the uploading of a mass of video clips to the site. Ranging from footage of the 1979 Two Tone Tour, 1984’s South of Watford segment, to the band’s appearance on a 2002 episode of the Des and Mel Show, there was a real selection of footage through the years here.

Rob Hazelby

TIME…

That’s pretty much it for this week, but before we go we urge you to get over to the official Madness merchansise store at http://madness.mamstore.co.uk/ where there’s currently a shedload of T-shirts selling for a mere two for £20.

There’s some great designs ranging from the iconic It Must be Love and Oui, Oui covers to the House of Fun and Blackpool Switch on events, and many more besides.

Go on. Treat yourself. It’d be rude not to at that price.

Until next week, take care,

Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams

(With thank to Darren West)