Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 800 – Sunday 7th September to Saturday 13th September 2014
Hey You… You are not alone.
Cathal Smyth’s new website is now live, and can be found right here; http://www.cathalsmyth.co.uk/
Not only that, but he’s uploaded the first track from his Comfortable Man Solo album, meaning you can hear “You are not alone” at the following link; http://vimeo.com/105033517
It’s a delightful tune with a soulful piano and voice and gentle strings. It’s got a hint of REM’s Everybody Hurts about it, with some added reassuring calm. It’s very moving and ends with angelic choral harmonies from the Noctis Chamber choir. Stunning.
Also this week, Nick Woodgate revealed that the title of his solo album is to be called “Morning” and will be available for pre order from the 22nd of September. You can see the track listing revealed below in our regular BUY IT section.
Now, while all this new music might be the food of love for the ears or hearts of Madness fans, it’s not surprising perhaps that the arrival of new bottled Madness ales have really captured the stomachs and imaginations of fans as most of facebook has turned into an off license of fans parading and uploading their newly collected prize bottles of Night Boat and Lovestruck.
As we revealed in MIS 792, a couple of months back, Mike and the band have been taste testing the new bottled ales and Morrisons is the place to get these news beers from, brewed by “The Madness brewing Company”.
Cheers! Drink on with this issue – MIS 800!
Jonathan 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
November 2014
November 21st – 24th 2014 – Minehead – Earlybird tickets can be ordered here: http://www.bigweekends.com/splash-pages/madness2014.aspx
December 2014
All for the M.A.D.H.E.A.D Tour
Thursday 4th, Capital FM Arena, Nottingham
Friday 5th, Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Saturday 6th, Brighton Centre, Brighton, Matinee
Saturday 6th, Brighton Centre, Brighton * SOLD OUT *
Monday 8th, Plymouth Pavillions, Plymouth
Tuesday 9th, Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth Thursday 11th, First Direct Arena, Leeds
Friday 12th, Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle
Saturday 13th, LG Arena, The NEC, Birmingham
Monday 15th, Odyssey Arena, Belfast
Tuesday 16th, The O2 Dublin, Dublin
Thursday 18th, The SSE Hydro, Glasgow
Friday 19th, Phones 4u Arena, Manchester
Saturday 20th, The O2 Arena, London
Links to purchase tickets for the above tour can be found at: http://madness.seetickets.com/tour/madness/?pre=premad&src=madnesspre
For tickets also see links via: www.madness.co.uk
Cathal Smyth
October 2014
A Comfortable Man. October 8th and 9th. Wilton’s Music hall.
The Magic Brothers
November 1st. Blakes @ The Custard House – Birmingham
Magic Brother Friday Headline set:
November 14th. The Big One 3. Park Dean, Sandford Dorset.
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
September 2014
September 12th. Heartlands Live, Cornwall, Pool (With Ali Campbel’s UB40 and Radio Riddler)
October 2014
October 2nd, The Jazz Café, Camden Town
More festival dates to follow.
Ska Orchestra web site: www.ltso.mis-online.net
The Silencerz (Featuring Lee Thompson)
September 2014
* New * September 13th Berkofest, Berkhamstead Cricket Club.
November 2014
November 8th – Hertford Corn Exchange. 39 Fore St. Herts. SG14 1AL With support. The Skammers.
November 16th – Confirmed in the Sunday Lineup of bands at Specialized The Big One 3. In Dorset.
Lee will be doing a photo signing session too.
Near Jazz Experience
September 21st – Support slot before Dave Formula and The Finks, Brighton, Prince Albert
Deaf School
November
Thursday 20 – Borderline, London
Friday 21 – Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
Saturday 22 – Academy, Manchester
Sunday 23 – Floral Pavilion, New Brighton
BUY IT
If money’s currently burning a hole in your pocket then perhaps we can help with your dilemma.
Madness – One Step Beyond 35th Anniversary edition CD.
You can now order the new edition of One Step Beyond 35th Anniversary, from Salvo Sound & Vision:
This Anniversary edition has been digitally remastered from the original 1⁄4 inch tapes by Tim Turan, and comes with recently unearthed rehearsal recordings from 1979, including two songs that have never appeared anywhere before. “Lost my head” and “Sunshine Voice”. It’s also very interesting to see Absolutely album track “You Said” on the rehearsal tape and Grey Day B-side “Memories” as well as hearing versions of tracks that made the album some 5 months before the debut LP was recorded.
Hear previews of these tracks, help yourself to a free download and you can even re-name the album, creating pictures you can share with people. Visit the mini site to do all this.
http://www.madness.co.uk/one-step-beyond-35/
There is a DVD of videos and Top of the Pops/Old Grey Whistle Test appearances, that includes the Young Guns documentary, and a 24 page booklet that speaks to Clive, Alan and Chris about the album.
One Step Beyond 35th Merchandise and T-shirts.
You can celebrate the album’s return also with new T-shirts and a mug themed on one step beyond. At the store. There is an anniversary mug too.
The M.A.D.H.E.A.D Tour T-shirt – Get it now.
What does any self respecting Madhead wear? The only true fan clothing of choice right now is surely the brand new Madhead T-shirt. Available now at least five months ahead of the tour, this T-shirt is so NOW! You can look stylish in it in a range of sizes, you can promote this summer, the forthcoming tour and help your heroes and of course in this day and age by buying the bands official clothing you are putting your money into the future new album project pot etc of the band who exist these days on their own self produced record label.
Available here… Via See Tickets and Madness.co.uk
* New * Cathal Smyth – A Comfortable Man – Limited Vinyl
Numbered 1 to 1000, this is a limited edition vinyl of “A Comfortable Man”, with a download code for the mp3 album. Available end of September from Cathal’s website. The album will also be available from Amazon and iTunes soon.
* New * Nick Woodgate – Morning (Tracklisting revealed)
Pre-order Nick Woodgate’s solo album on iTunes from September 22nd.
Tracklisting: Morning / Magic Carpets in the Sky / Eloise / You Can Get It / I Can Hear The Music / Call Me… / Bus / Let’s Spend Lots of Money / On Her Majesty’s Secret Service / Summer Nights / The Magic Dawn / Show Me / Magic Brothers / Night
SPECIALIZED: Mad Not Cancer. 4CD covers album for Teenage Cancer Trust
Over 70 tracks. 4 CDs. Cover versions of Madness by not just Ska bands but lots of young up and coming acts of many genres including a few famous pop stars and Bedders on one track, too. All for Teenage Cancer.
http://www.specialized-project.co.uk/#!shop/c1atu (remove hyphen from URL)
SIGN OF THE TIMES
A Comfortable Man Live – For Hepatitis C
Cathal will now be performing the album in its entirety for the first time, in the beautiful surroundings of Wilton’s Music Hall in the East End of London – the world’s oldest surviving Grand Music Hall.
The performances will be accompanied by an exhibition curated by artist MC Llamas, who has invited more than 40 leading contemporary and street artists from international backgrounds to create work in response to Cathal Smyth’s album A Comfortable Man, to be shown exclusively for the event.
Cathal has chosen The Hepatitis C Trust as the charity to benefit from these gigs and has recorded a message especially for our patients. There will be plenty of chances to meet Cathal on the night.
http://www.hepctrust.org.uk/News_Resources/news/2014/August/Cathal
Night Boat and Lovestruck – The Madness Brewing Company
Beers with a touch of Madness!
The Madness Brewing Co. are delighted to announce 2 more beers… ‘Lovestruck’ is our hoppy amber ale and ‘Night Boat’, our velvety London porter.
Now available at Morrison’s around the UK
https://www.facebook.com/MadnessBrewingCo
The Road to a Comfortable Man
Edited from www.cathalsmyth.co.uk (Read the full version there)
The road leading to A Comfortable Man, the eloquent and heart-rending debut solo album by Cathal Smyth, has been long and winding – though as he likes to say “old dog for the long walk, young pup for the short run”.
A Comfortable Man has taken time to mature and a variety of locations – London, the island of Ibiza and a rehabilitation facility in Arizona – have been instrumental in bringing it to life. The process has seen Cathal emerge from one of the nation’s most beloved pop bands Madness as a fully formed talent – now with two musicals in the works as well as his solo debut.
The journey from Nutty Boy stage invader to all round Renaissance man has certainly been eventful. It was to Tucson’s world-renowned Cottonwood Tucson treatment facility that Smyth went in 2005 – by his own admission a wounded and broken man. After 28 years with the woman he loved and the mother of his three children his marriage and their relationship came to a close. She had told him she wasn’t happy and that he couldn’t make her happy. “My world literally fell out from under me, the conviction in those simple words had a finality that was chilling.”
To the world outside, Cathal – aka Chas Smash, one of the 7 men comprising much loved national pop institution Madness – may have seemed like a made man. Since enunciating the earth shaking intro to Madness’s 1979 One Step Beyond, he’d made an increasingly significant contribution to the group, penning the lyrics to signature hits such as Tomorrow’s Just Another Day, Wings Of A Dove, the mysterious Michael Caine and Our House. He had also been the driving force behind the band’s successful 1992 live comeback.
Marital heartache was compounded by financial headache as funding for his record company fell through. Feeling overwhelmed he sought advice and turned to Chris Difford, fellow musician and friend who introduced Smyth to a counsellor who suggested a stay in Cottonwood. His band colleagues made the necessary funds available for treatment, as an advance against future earnings.
At Cottonwood Cathal committed to the facility’s routine. “I emptied my cup and threw myself into the process. I was confused; this seismic event was beyond my experience. I really couldn’t cope. I was consumed with guilt, shame and a mass of turbulent emotions. I felt hopeless, so lost. I knew that my thinking needed reprogramming.”
Along with daily group therapy sessions and one to one counselling he volunteered himself for a series of chores in the hope that by humbling himself he would overcome ego and open himself to healing his troubled heart and find acceptance. On the 10th day, during a period of respite, alone in the community hall, he seated himself at the piano. The break from wife and family home was still paramount in his mind. The grief had taken form. Sorrow had turned to song. Are The Children Happy?,the song at the core of A Comfortable Man, flowed forth. “It was an epiphany, I didn’t even know what chords I was playing,” he explains.
Encouraged by the response the song received from those close to him at Cottonwood, a few days later came Love Song Number 7. “At that point I thought – I’m an artist. It was the first time I believed that of myself. It occurred to me that my heart, far from being crushed, had become the source of my strength and the voice of my truth”.
The next significant move towards creating A Comfortable Man came when he discovered a new home in Ibiza. Living in a succession of one-bedroom flats in London had proved detrimental to both his relationship with his children and his creative life. A trip to Ibiza with his family proved just the tonic and a new home was soon found. A new chapter had begun.
“We loved it. It felt good, it had the hedonistic side and the spiritual side, which totally suited me – those are the two extremes I’ve always operated between, both extrovert and introspection. I moved here in February 2008 and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. My children spend more time with me here than if I had been living in London. We’re stronger than ever, my children are my success, and the relationship I enjoy with them is what I value most in my life.”
Musically the deeply spiritual and party friendly island has proved the making of Cathal. His home welcomed summer visitors whilst during the winter months he locked himself away alone in his “castle of silence” finding peace in solitude and working on creating the right atmosphere for the arrival of his muse. His new home made its imprint on the songs he now crafted. The early morning birds inspired the optimism of Do You Believe In Love? The terrifying fire that broke out one night in Ibiza’s Benirras “from a distance it looked like something from Beowulf, a long orange dragon of fire on the crest of the hill – I watched it devouring trees,” inspiring the apocalyptic vision of Goodbye Planet Earth
A new calm and clarity was apparent. The old confusions fell away. His work took shape and people noticed. Back in London, actor Keith Allen seeing him asked, “What’s changed?”
After a Madness show in Dubai, Cathal walked into a lift where a stranger in full Arab clothing said, “I can see in your heart you are “A Comfortable Man.”
This song sums up his story – Iran, Iraq, the martial arts, the mystical path, the band. From being a child of the ’60s with the Kodachrome, the Polaroids, the dichotomy of his life…”all the things that I’ve done, all that has shaped me.”
Madness’s profile reached a new high in 2012 with appearances at both the Olympics and Diamond Jubilee. The making of A Comfortable Man entered its final stage. Smyth’s intimate, conversational vocals gently coaxed forth the feeling that initially inspired the songs. From demos made in his home studio to its recording and completion in London, Smyth worked alongside producer Charlie Andrew and Alan Winstanley, who mixed the album. Cathal who spent time working in A&R reluctantly classifies the music as ‘urban folk’ but in its individuality the songs transcend categories.
The common thread is natural music brought back to its essence. “I decided when I was in Cottonwood that I wanted to give to the everyman an understanding of some kind of rite of passage, in essence a healing. An indication that you can be in love, fail in the relationship, let go of the person and still be in love. You have to feel the feelings, to walk toward the sharp points, to discover who you are. I didn’t want to become bitter. I didn’t want to die from the inside out. I saw our separation as an opportunity for me to evolve.” At last year’s Festival No 6 in Port Merion, Cathal, with a selection of musicians put together by Joe Duddell, debuted selections from A Comfortable Man. “It was very moving. After every song my heart was in my throat; I felt ‘why haven’t I done this before? Many of the audience were moved to tears. It gave me the belief to finally pursue a solo career.”
A Comfortable Man is a record of recovery and discovery. It’s a long way from the stage-invading Nutty Boy in the pork pie hat: “The only law that never changes is the law that states everything changes.”
Sometimes a voice with experience is no bad thing. A Comfortable Man is set for release in 2015.
You’re Not Alone – Lyrics
Hey you…
We know you’re out there
Don’t be frightened
We are with you
And we want to let you know
That you’re not alone
You’re not alone
If it’s in you
And you know that you can’t hide it
Though you’ve tried
Until you’ve cried
Well we want you to know
That you’re not alone
You’re not alone
You were always so crazy
We miss you
We were talking
Of the time we were last with you
And we want you to know
That you’re not alone
You’re not alone
Yes we want you to know
That you’re not alone
You’re not alone
Hey you….
We know that you are out there.
Don’t be frightened
We are with you
You are not alone
You’re not alone
(Farewell my …..
You are not alone)
(C) Bright Girl Songs ltd.
MIS DJ AT THE BIG ONE SPECIALIZED) & THE HOUSE OF FUN WEEKENDER
This November a team from the MIS will be on tour, going to Specialized’s BIG ONE event at Park Dean to DJ, and following it a week later with our usual attendance of The House Of Fun Weekender where we will be presenting again a night in Jak’s bar venue.
As many of our readers will already know, since being polled since January, we are presenting a Mad Chart Show. The results of a poll we’ve been conducting with selected fans all year. From the 200 released unique Madness songs thus far in existence, we’ve been asking the fans, what’s your top 40. You’re votes can still be counted in this data.
MISDJ – The Mad Chart.
Madness have written (or covered) and officially released in some format, 200 unique songs. 1979 – 2013 (On LP,EP,7″,12″,CD,Download or USB. This is excluding songs under the name THE Madness, other spinoffs, solo, any remixes, or alt versions of the same track, any leaked tracks, bootlegs, TV shows, live only renditions never officially released, and a few fanclub flexi tracks ruled out too that is.)
Since January, MIS has been compiling a chart from it’s fan friends and readers opinions, and raising a few quid for Specialized, in sponsorship too. Now nearing the £1k target level for the year, we are in need of just another £100. If you want to join this database picking your own top 40 choices, you can pick them here… It’s free. Donations are accepted separately.
http://www.opinionstage.com/polls/2205126
And your chosen top 40 input could still affect the final chart announced at the forth coming weekenders, taking you back to when charts felt good. Hear the results live. They will also be published in a future issue and broadcast on Koast Radio.
https://www.justgiving.com/misthemadcharts/
At The Big One weekender we will also be involved in a unique multi-band cover version of a Madness tune for the DVD extras of the weekender.
More news soon too on our line up of acts for Jaks bar on Sunday At House of Fun Weekender.
Jonathan Young
TWEETS OF A DOVE / THAT FACEBOOK
Various posts from Facebook and Twitter that have caught our eye over the past week or so.
Magic Brothers @magicbrothers3
“Twitter can be so mundane. The best I can come up with is “I’ve just painted my hallway”. Is this really of interest to anyone?
Maybe not…. but this is….”
Magic Brothers @magicbrothers3
“Next Magic Brothers album mixed and now being mastered. Artwork next.”
chas smash @chassmash1
“Tickets have gone on sale, looking forward to seeing you there, come and say hello chas x”
Chas Smash – Facebook
“I want to express my deepest gratitude for the sterling work that Adele has put into this web site from its inception less than a month ago to the last few days over which she has truly worked all hours under the sun. Not one demand nor request nor suggestion has been met with anything but stoic enthusiasm. Adele has surpassed herself with this website and it has been an utter joy putting it together with her.
We go back a long way and I really couldn’t have realised this site without her. I recently had my email hacked and Adele was able to go into her archive and pull my old email addy which I had forgotten and my old mobile number from years back. Adele is a wonder and I wish to express my eternal gratitude and respect for all she has done for me. I think you will agree the site looks fabulous and more content will be coming over the next month and in the near future.
With this website I seriously have just the right vehicle to express my idea’s, thoughts and work. Three cheers for Adele! Hip hip, Hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, Hooray!
Please all send out good vibes to Adele and wish her along with me a well deserved holiday, happy travels and a safe return. with love and in light.
Thank you Adele, you are a woman amongst women x Love Cathal x”
Lee Thompson Facebook
Lee posted a picture of a large scaffold that he apparently climbed when LTSO played Feastival. Oh dear. Again!
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 540 – Sunday 6th September – Saturday 12th September 2009
At the time this issue went out he wasn’t officially a member of the MIS team (his wishes, not ours!), but it was nice to see that he liked to keep popping in from time to time. Who were we talking about? Jonathan Young, of course.
Jonathan submitted a couple of real juicy snippets of info to get this week’s issue off to a roaring start. First-up, he congratulated the MIS team for getting the MIS URL into the official book about the band in Terry Edwards’ One Step Beyond 33 1/3rd. The URL had also been spotted on the sleeve notes of the 30th Anniversary Madness Tribute Album.
Not bad going at all.
Our articles go underway with a press release from Radio 2 who were busy promoting their coverage of the Blackpool Illuminations, which you could now catch on the BBC iPlayer.
It wasn’t just the BBC who had coverage of the band at the Northern seaside resort, as subscriber Ged Hartnett emailed in with a link to the Blackpool Gazette web site, who were hosting footage of Madness performing at the light switch-on event.
On to Shoreditch news, and regular readers would no doubt recall that we’d been casually following the efforts of Suggs and fellow campaigners as they battled against planners’ decisions to bulldoze the famous “Light Bar”.
One of Shoreditch’s most iconic buildings, the former Victorian railway power station was due to be flattened to make way for a skyscraper which would house offices, a hotel and nearly 200 private flats.
The campaign received a huge boost in February when Hackney Council extended the South Shoreditch conservation area to include The Light Bar, forcing the developers to go back to the drawing board.
This week the developers revealed an artists’ vision of how the area would now look, following the decision to keep The Light Bar.
We moved on to book news and welcomed back to book review corner Jonathan Young, this time reading “Madness – One Step Beyond (33 1/3)”, on Madness’ first album. This wasn’t a heavy heavy monster read, it was a rocksteady book. It was a delight, and an insight. Jonathan described its 172 pages in your hands like some extensive sleeve notes from heaven.
We brought this issue to a close with news of not one but two new releases. Firstly, and after 18 months of hard work, the Madness 30th Anniversary Tribute Album was now ready, and could be ordered from Amazon France, and secondly, the CD /DVD album of Total Madness was set to hit stores on the 21st of September. The advertising agency roped in to promote the release had been working hard to complete the TV commercial ready for the big day.
The commercial was really stylish and can still be found on YouTube at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhvVm5iqx1o
10 years ago…
Issue 278 – Sunday 5th September to Saturday 11th September 2004
With 2004 being 25 years since the whole 2-Tone movement really took off, we began this issue of the MIS with a nice article from the Coventry Observer, which revealed that Coventry City Centre managers and Coventry City Council would be planning a tribute event at the Skydome Arena in late November.
Organisers were planning on scrapping the traditional city centre New Year’s Eve shindig in favour of the concert, and talks were well underway with original members of The Specials, The Beat and The Selecter to form the line up for the one-off event.
Elsewhere in this issue, and we had news from theblockheads.com, announcing re-releases of three treasured albums:
“New Boots And Panties!!” (1977)
“Do It Yourself” (1979)
“Laughter” (1980)
Until this point in time they had never been given the full Deluxe 2 CD Edition re-issue treatment. With the full co-operation of both the Dury estate and The Blockheads, we were promised that the 2 CD sets would include bonus discs with all the non-album singles sides, as well as previously unreleased demo versions, out takes, and live versions, all retrieved from the untouched Dury tape archive.
The booklets would feature full annotation, all the lyrics, and Dury ephemera.
New Boots and Panties was scheduled for a 27th of September release, with subsequent albums coming 3 to 4 weeks later.
While all this was going on The Blockheads were about to continue their 2004 tour starting in Wolverhampton on September 16th and on to Swindon for two nights (17th and 18th). A film crew would be following the band on their upcoming concerts to capture life on the road with the band for inclusion on a DVD release for 2005. We were assured that All aspects of Blockhead life would be scrutinised and nothing would be out of bounds!
Further on in this issue we announced (courtesy of subscriber Paul Rodgers) that the episode of Eighties TV show ‘Press Gang’, featuring Suggs, was now available to buy on DVD.
For those keen to pick up a copy you’d need series 2, and the episode called ‘Friends Like These’.
We finished this week’s issue off with a massive review of MOT’s performance at The Water Rats, which took place on Thursday 2nd of September, courtesy of one Jonathan Young.
15 years ago…
Issue 16 – Sunday 5th September to Saturday 11th September 1999
We started off this week’s issue with news in from subscriber Peter Gardner, who had discovered that the next Madness single, ‘Johnny The Horse’, would (for reasons unknown to us) not be receiving a September release. The new launch date had now been moved over to Monday the 4th of October. The delay in the single single release would mean that the album would also be hit by a delay, and wouldn’t be seeing the light of day until the 18th of October.
Moving on, and we learned that on the 30th of September, the band would be attending a launch of a special Madness Doc Marten’s boot at the DM store in Covent Garden. Rumours were also circulating, revealing that on the evening of the same day a small extra special gig would be taking place at a small venue in the city. A few tickets would be made available to fans, but details weren’t available at this point in time.
News also in this issue was that the band were apparently already toying with the possibility of releasing a third single from the forthcoming ‘Wonderful’ album. Carl had apparently spoken to a fan and had explained that the next single was likely to be either ‘Drip Fed Fred’ or ‘Elysium’, which he thought sounded a bit like Michael Caine.
Further on in the issue we heard from subscriber Pete Gardner, who reported that Radio Two had now started blasting ‘Johnny The Horse’ across the airwaves. We were all hoping that the number of plays would continue to increase over the next few weeks.
Those of you who had been part of the online Madness community since the early days may remember Adrian Burns and his wonderful Madness web sites. Well, 15 years ago he was still very active in the creation of Madness web sites, and in this issue announced that his ‘Maddest Show on Earth’ pages were moving to their own domain. Along with the move would come a complete re-vamp, and Adrian asked us to be patient, as it may be some time before it was fully up and running.
We finished off this week’s issue with a nice plug for Ian Taylor’s excellent Mad Not Mad fanzine, which at a mere £1.50 per issue featuring 60 packed pages, was excellent value for money.
Rob Hazelby
TIME…
That’s just about it for this week’s issue of the MIS. Before you switch off your computer, don’t forget to check out the new Cathal Smyth web site over at http://www.cathalsmyth.co.uk/ and, if you’re a LinkedIn user, but have yet to join the MIS LinkedIn group, you can sign-up via the link at the very top of this issue.
Until next week, thanks for reading,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
The Author
