Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 824 – Sunday 22nd February to Saturday 28th February 2015
SLAM!
Went the sound this week as Madness news got busy. News of The Grandslam finakly arrived.
“Madheads flock to pastures green…” proclaimed the new tour poster. Elsewhere in mailouts, media posts, videos and multiple news articles in national and local press, 18 new Summer gigs were announced in a flurry of well coordinated Madnews, fast growing upwards from Monday in a display of greenery.
Pre sales began on Tuesday for tickets for those fans signed up to Grandslam Madness, official news or web media. In previous issues of the MIS we urged you to sign up as that’s where you needed to be for pole position on the grand slam grid. This was especially true as Silverstone motor racing ,The British Grand(slam) Prix [practice day] was announced among the line up of gigs. Expensive F1 packages were cross marketed around that gig giving fans the opportunity to see the cars, or all the racing weekend. This gig is also sold separate, involving no sport element at all. For music fans in that Northamptonshire area of the world this gives you an opportunity to enjoy just the Thursday gig at the same price as all the other venues.
Remember the London festival we said you should keep an eye out for? That was also announced this week, and confirmed as On Blackheath in South London, a relatively new festival, now in it’s second year. Madness headline the Sunday with Kelis as support act and various other bands including some members of Squeeze. You can get “Sunday only” day tickets, or if you fancy The Manic Street Preachers and Elbow and making it a weekend you can get two day tickets and go Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are around £50 for per each of the days, so not much more than all the other gigs which come in at between £35 and £45 with all the fees. There are also a number of family ticket options weighing in at under £100.
A bountiful stock of cricket grounds, horse racing courses and rugby grounds make up Madness’ own set of concerts in an array which has delighted fans across England and Wales. Especially so, as many of these gigs are taking place in more unusual and lesser travelled Madness touring territories. The majority are also quite sizeable venues, making the ideal locations for some large parties.
From May to September, from Lincoln to Durham, this is the biggest ever outdoor tour by the band. It’s truly grand. See our Showtime section if you’ve still not seen all the dates. Madness then further informed…
“Grandslam Madness… our only UK tour this year!”
Reading the above it does seem that if any gigs should arise after this year’s House of Fun Weekender they’re unlikely to be part of a multi-date Christmas tour. We think that there will be either nothing else in 2015 following that or at most a few standalone dates/appearances towards the end of the year. Perhaps studio activity instead in this years final quarter?
Make Madness your Summer time showtime, and everyone pray for British weather to be grand sunshine for all!
On Friday the remaining tickets went on general sale. At that time a 19th date was then added to the schedule, Portsmouth, a large sporting football stadium that promises at least 3 support acts on June 6th. That date then sold 4,000 tickets on opening day, which is about a third of all capacity for the gig. Wow!
Venue chief executive Mark Catlin said in Portsmouth paper: “The number of tickets sold has totally exceeded our expectations of what we would sell on the first day. The demand to watch Madness at Fratton Park has been simply incredible and we are urging Pompey fans to get their tickets booked now to avoid disappointment.”
That Daily Mirror appearance we told you was happening this week came on Friday. Featuring some quotes from Suggs he confirmed that in the great outdoors fans would hear some new Madness sounds this coming summer; the first couple of new album tracks to tentatively step up to the touch line. The paper then went on to add the chance to win meet and greet family tickets. Guess the lyrics right here… (ignore the words they list wrong, just get the missing button right of each option then sign up with your details.)
http://www.mirror.co.uk/play/competitions/win-meet-greet-tickets-grandslam-5173112
…and you could be lucky enough to meet some of the band at your chosen venue.
With this mass of excitement and joy amongst fans for finally learning the Grandslam dates, Maddies began booking up and shouting about their chosen locations online. Parties of fans began to form, with the occasional cry from those located in more distant towns and cities. Those based North of the border were particularly vocal that there wasn’t a single Scottish gig planned, which does seem a massive shame. Perhaps their disappointment in part comes from last year’s tour having Grandslam communications within it but no Scottish dates appearing on the current poster. Take comfort if you’re north of the border, as in a recent web chat this week (see elsewhere in this issue for the full transcript), we are told to “watch this space”.
To further excite fans Madness put up an hour’s worth of last years 02 concert from the sound desk. This should help get many of you I the mood as you wait for the next round of Madness concerts. It’s on the Grandslam site where tagged posts about the gigs now also appear. Get yourself there.
The Grandslam. As Madness tours go, this summer is outstanding in it’s field.
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/Madness-tickets/artist/984976
Enjoy the rest of the read, which includes details of a release date for Carl’s album, news of a brand new Lovestruck 7 inch, news of Suggs at our Skiff Skats event at the Dublin castle last weekend, bloody Tories, prison musical dates, Roxy music goes Clang! and much, more.
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
2015
March 12th – The Emirates Stadium – This week “The Gig Company” has announced Madness appearing at Suggs & Friends charity event in the line up (see below).
* NEW * GRANDSLAM
“Sporting theatres jumping with joy is the goal. Grandslam Madness – the greatest open air tour in the history of Rock & Roll…”
May 29 – Lincoln City Football Club
May 30 – Gloucester Rugby Club
June 3 Chelmsford City Racecourse
June 6 – Portsmouth, Fratton Park
June 26 – Newmarket Racecourses
June 27 – Doncaster Racecourse
June 28 – Hove, Sussex County Cricket Club
July 2 – Silverstone Circuit
July 3 – St Helens, Haydock Park Racecourse
July 4 – Carlisle Racecourse
July 9 – Epsom Downs Racecourse
July 10 – Chepstow Racecourse
July 11 – Rhyll Outdoor Events Arena
September 11 – Canterbury, Kent County Cricket Club
September 12 – Bristol, Gloucester County Cricket Club
September 13 – London, On Blackheath
September 18 – Leeds, Yorkshire County Cricket Club
September 25 – Wolverhampton
September 26 – Chester-le-Street, Durham County Cricket Club
November 2015
November 20th – 23rd 2014 – Minehead – The House Of Fun Weekender Five
Early bird tickets on sale now
Suggs
March 2015
12th March – An Evening With Suggs and Friends, in aid of Pancreatic Cancer UK. Held at The Emirates Stadium. At £160 a ticket we’re not sure if many MIS readers will be attending! http://www.thegigcompany.org/events/pcuk2015/
* NEW * Suggs is also appearing in Our House The Musical. In Isis Prison, Woolwich
Near Jazz Experience
March
24th – NEAR JAZZ EXPERIENCE + Support + DJ
Indo 133 Whitechapel Rd, London E1 1DT *Free*
Visit: https://www.facebook.com/NearJazzExperience
The Silencerz ft. Lee Thompson
May
9th The Junction, Cambridge, Support Terry Hall (DJ set)
Deaf School
Deaf School will be in Tokyo during the month of March, promoting an album on Japanese label Hayabusa Landings.
June
5th – The Garage, Highbury, London
Henry’s Heroes
Featuring Paul Carrack, Nick Lowe, Andy Fairweather – Low, Tim Hinkley, Carol Grimes, Tony O’Malley, Suggs, Graham Parker
Date: Tuesday 17th March
Venue: The Half Moon, Putney, London
A benefit in aid of the elegant and versatile Irish guitarist, Henry McCullough, early member of Wings, joining Paul McCartney for his first post-Beatles tour, and playing that gliding solo on “My Love.” He backed up Joe Cocker for a while, playing with him at Woodstock (the only Irish musician to do so), and was a member of Roy Harper’s band Chips.
An all star band featuring:
Tim Hinkley – Keyboards/Vocals
Mel Collins – Saxophone/Flute
Bob Tench – Vocals/Guitar
John “The Admiral” Halsey Drums
Neil Hubbard – Guitar
Steve Simpson – Guitar/Vocals
Jerome Rimson – Bass
With performances from Paul Carrack, Nick Lowe & Andy Fairweather – Lowe, Suggs, Carol Grimes and Tony O’Malley
Tickets are priced at £40.00, plus £1.60 shipping/handling. These can be ordered from:
http://www.musicglue.com/half-moon-putney/events/17-mar-15-henrys-heroes-half-moon–putney/
BUY IT
Brand new T-Shirts, Merchandise
There are laurel leaf official polo’s in white, navy and black. T-shirts for all three beers; Night Boat, Lovestruck and Gladness. There are black laurel Beanie hats with the M crown logo, a new royal logo like Fez for gigs, blue and charcoal House Of Fun T-Shirts and a Mad Head design mug.
The black and red Dangermen Vs Invaders shirts are brilliant; half designed on the original 2004 Dangermen poster look with added flying saucers, making a really nice retro feel to the whole design. There is a blue Madhead Picture T-shirt with a slogan on, and some Oui, Oui, Si, Si merchandise still available.
The Clang EP – 4 Track EP (Released Feb 16th on domino records)
Clive Langer revisits Shipbuilding, his legendary track with Robert Wyatt and 3 other new Langer group songs.
http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/ep/20-11-14/the-clang-group-ep
A Comfortable Man – Cathal Smyth solo album. Free Track Get it here.
Remaining limited LP’s and download. Album available May 4th.
“This is the beginning of the rest of my life musically. My first solo album ‘A Comfortable Man’ will be following in May, I do hope you enjoy ‘You’re Not Alone’; the opening track from the album; here it is as a free MP3 download: http://po.st/iBHX1j and watch the video on YouTube. Keep checking in at www.cathalsmyth.co.uk for forthcoming details on; pre-ordering the album, availability of the Limited Edition Vinyl and of course hearing more music, all in the very near future.” Cathal Smyth
In Your Mind – Woody Woodgate solo album.
Out in April. (website coming soon. Details to follow) 13 tracks with new band line up and vocalist Dan Shears.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Items in the press that have caught our eye over the past week or so…
Multiple GrandSlam Articles have appeared across national and local news sources this week. We begin with a roundup of only unique band quotes.
Grandslam Quote Round Up
Suggs, 54, told The News: “Portsmouth is a great place for gigs.
I have always loved it and of course it’s brilliant we are playing at the football ground.”
Daily post on Rhyl gig.
Lead singer Suggs said: “Come see, come see! The world’s strongest band perform incredible feats live! Marvel as Madness lift an enormous set of polished pop songs high in the air, single handed! The UK’s biggest open air tour ever! Rolling into a town near you, soon.”
Daily Mirror.
“You have to see Madness to apreciate them. They are an interesting band to look at.” “Now I can at least appreciate what happens when I’m on stage.” Suggs.
Cathal Smyth – You’re Not Alone In Mojo
http://www.mojo4music.com/artist/cathal-smyth/
http://www.mojo4music.com/19057/madness-chas-smash-goes-solo-hear-his-new-song/
“We’re all the same,” he recently told MOJO of his impulse to get so personal on record. “What I learnt in recovery is you tell your life story and it’s, ‘Really?! It’s what everybody does? I’ve been wracking my soul for years about that!’ No one’s really that unique.”
Having been behind some of Madness’ biggest hits, including Michael Caine and Our House, Smyth is no mean songwriter, something A Comfortable Man ably confirms.
MOJO has an exclusive preview of You’re Not Alone, the album’s opening track, which you can hear now.
Suggs: Working-Class Madness Singer Left Confused After Indirectly Raising Money At Tory Party’s £3 Million Ball
Suggs is “furious” that a picture of him raised thousands of pounds for David Cameron’s party.
The singer, who has spoken in the past of his dislike of Margaret Thatcher and described himself as a socialist, is said to be dismayed that a photograph of himself was used to bolster the Conservative party’s coffers.
Suggs, real name Graham Macpherson, is hunting down the photographer Stephen Perry, who donated the portrait to the event.
“Getting to the bottom of how my picture ended up in [the] Tories auction,” Suggs said. “Don’t know the photographer but will find out.”
MIS FEATURE – LOVESTRUCK 7″ + 3D INSERTS – FOR RECORD STORE DAY
Salvo and Madness are pleased to announce that Salvo’s 2015 Record Store Day release will be a 1,000 copy limited edition 7” of ‘Lovestruck’, which has never been available on vinyl, backed with ‘Le Grand Pantalon’, best known for its use in a 2011 Kronenbourg TV ad, and which is also making its vinyl debut.
Lovestruck (7 inch single)
Record Store Day
Cat. No.: SALVOSV008
Barcode: 698458860873
LC Code: 20401
‘Lovestruck’ was a 1999 Top 10 single from the band’s acclaimed Wonderful album, and has recently made a return to the band’s live sets.
‘Le Grand Pantalon’ is a specially recorded, slowed down version of ‘Baggy Trousers’, previously available physically only on the 2011 box set A Guided Tour of Madness .
But what really makes this release special is the unique insert, a ‘Madness Presents’ 3D ‘Love Struck’ Toy Theatre, a replica of a classic Punch & Judy puppet theatre.
In addition to iconic London characters like a Pearly King and Queen and Punch & Judy themselves, the interior of the 3D theatre features depictions of items and characters relating to Madness and their songs, including pith-helmeted soldiers (‘Night Boat’), bottles of Madness Brewing Company beer, a rollercoaster (‘House Of Fun’), terraced houses (’Our House’), and many more. The character collage was created by Peter Quinnell, and the toy theatre is being manufactured by Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Shop.
‘Lovestruck’ has been re-mastered for its vinyl debut from the original ½” tapes.
LIVE AND INTENSIFIED
The Skiff Skats Live Again
The Hillbilly band John Hasler joined after leaving Madness, returned to London last weekend, having not played live for 29 years. A warm up gig took place, and then a well received support slot under Champion Doug Veitch at the 100 club in Oxford street on Friday night. Interested in an alternative day out and some celebration of John’s return with this band, Madness fans (and a couple of the band), gathered for a meet up at The Dublin Castle Camden town, set up by us at MIS, partnered once again with help from the “All Things Madness” group from Facebook.
There were some fans who came along who had seen this band play in the 80’s, Lynn Lawlor had told us of the band’s antics back in the day, claiming she couldn’t remember too much of those days as the band used to pass round a jug of booze into the crowd, the legendary “Skiff Skat Stuff!”, and it wasn’t a beverage that was an aid to memory, more an aid to good times, loosening up the brain cells. Hmm Maybe Madness and Gladness did have an anticedance then! Lynn said it made her feel 17 again to see the band play once more. Mark Bryant was also attending and he said he was definitely at the Lyceum gig when The Skiff Skats supported Madness in the 80’s but he was struggling also to rewind 30 years or more in his mind to remember a support band from that day. Rest of us mad fans were new to all this and not sure what to expect from the bands country skiffle stylings beyond the clues that their 1985 LP could give as to their hillbilly sound, or some old review statements of their maverick style approach to gigs.
Turns out this is a good time band that makes all the more sense in the moment and in the live arena and one that instantly connects with their audience. I think this lead to people who weren’t sure, saying afterwards they had a very good time, it having gone beyond their uncertain expectations.
Our day began about 1pm, with just Hector Walker from the band (Suggs’s Cousin), scouting out the back room to set up the band with the sound man given for the event. Myself and Natalie Fitzgerald were at the bar and we jokingly asked Hector if he had any embarrassing stories about Suggs from time together in Wales as young men. He didn’t spill any such beans of course, but we spoke about that large crack in their house that Suggs talked about in his one man show, and he explained further about it all, then telling us about his days working for Madness, and the time a light fingered Thommo took him for a west end spree! long ago.
Our DJ Swanny (Crunch! manager) arrived sporting a straw hat look to match the event, and kicked off our gig with some Crunch! tunes mixed in with dub reggae classics, mixing from his i phone, including some layered versions of “It’s Ok I’m a Policeman” and more gems to set the mad meet into dance mode. While the pub was initially rather empty at 1pm poster time, it instantly became packed by 2pm with a mix of fans, about half descending from MIS/ATM mad circles and the rest brought in by the bands own following, and The Dublin Castle advertising the event on their official channels. Shout outs and thanks to some of our regulars, Sharon, Leah, Alan, Bev, Maria, Hazel, Stuart, Simon, Donna, Duff, Chris & Em and Thommo came along at our suggestion to heckle for his one time place in this band! “Hector still owes me for the zob stick Rental!” he would shout.
Suggs and Anne followed later to visit the family of course, with Suggs tweeting the bands soundcheck picture, and he managed to drag in this BBC London Radio DJ off the street, (as retold on his radio show on Monday).
Robert Elms Weekend
DJ Swanny informed Suggs that his Radio Riddler single would be played, and when the tune came around the main man was seen to tell his crew around him, “Listen to this one, bloody good tune” 
Then after a little buzzing feedback error on my part (whoops), I ushered The Skiff Skats to the stage around 3pm and they tuned up and instantly delighted the room full of people, backed up with wolf whistles from Thommo and “we know who you are” shouts from Suggs.
This band have a reputation joked about of being under rehearsed, but in truth they are pretty tight and on form, there was one slip up at the previous nights 100club gig, but not this afternoon’s event. Equally they have matured since the 80s. No doubt energy and youthful hi jinks carried them back in the day. Now it was a greater musicality, wit, deadpan humility and charm, and a little history, that was carrying the event. Robert Smith as the front man has a calm and easy interface with the audience. It had amused me that we were dragging away a professional solicitor back to the days when life was more knock-a-about world of rock and roll for him 3 decades back, but clearly this is a man happy at dealing with people, and as a front man you feel in safe hands the whole time he banters the crowd or to his band. This lead to pure entertainment.
Cedric was on steel guitar, the blues style that you play on it’s side with metal finger picks, And at this gig only Slim returned on accordion fresh from usual band now Urban Voodoo Machine.
Percussion is from Hector on Zob stick, and Mr Hasler on Washboard. If you are unfamiliar with such instruments, a Zob is a broom handle with wired bottle tops jangling a top played with a stick or banging it, shaking it off the floor, a washboard a metal riveted scrubbing device rippled with thimbles on the fingers. This pair play the character slightly comedically, best showcased at the front, when they dance through the crowd, taking solos. Mr Hasler looking the most in the band like Huckelberry Finn, while other look more John Wayne.
The oldest member of the group in his 70’s is Casper, who plays a “Saw”. Yes – the saw; he’d place the part with the handle again his foot whilst holding the saw at the opposite end and using a violin bow to make a sound similar to create a ghostly ‘whoo-oooh’ on a Scooby Doo cartoon.) Also playing a jug on some songs (blowing a note across a pottery demijohn).
This line up of the band contains some new players too. Sadly missing brother Pete now long departed and indeed a song is dedicated to his memory, and I’m not sure lonesome tone returned to the fold either lost down in the south of England. We have guitarist David Carrier in his live debut’s this weekend, and a trio of Dutchies helping out. Marcel Verbaas slapping a frantic double bass. Robert van Driesten performed harmonica and second Banjo. With their friend Wout Meijer running the door and selling the t-shirts, they were joked about as being the 3 and only members of the Rotterdam skiff skats fanclub who were now in the band. In truth their band Stringcaster is the source of their own bluegrass talent, and here it really helped balance the skiff skats as both the returning old boys, but with a vigour of youth within the band just like their 80’s hey days.
Some of the band’s songs from their one album prove they are remembered by the bands fans, and some are also instantly singable to a new crowd. Tunes such as “Rock this joint” are encouraged with audience participation and by second or third chorus the room has the words and joins in merrily.
“You drink wine, I’ll drink whiskey, smoke a little weed, Get a little frisky,
we don’t care, we’re almost grown, Rock this joint till the cows come home.”
The band took advantage of the free time available to them in this set up having the whole room to their own agenda, and played a longer and slightly more relaxed gig than the previous night at the hundred club. There was a variation in their set too. Jug player Casper had been the subject of a centre stage moment where the Song “A is adorable” had been played the previous night giving him a song of praise, followed by a solo moment, only then for the song to be resung with substituted alphabetical abuse the second time around. Also legendary tune “Shit house boogie” had be re-dummped upon the crowd at the previous venue. The DC got instead a strummed “hey good lookin” perhaps a nod to valentines day.
Hey Good Lookin
A crowd favourite in the DC though was the hilarious introduction to the song about equine sex! Hey Who doesn’t love a bit of horse play!! The said they were playing this song for the last time before it was banned.
Buckin Mule
Darren West says: “It’s unlike anything I’ve heard before; naturally there are high elements of country, folk and skiffle and it’s generally upbeat good fun time sounds. Throw in a sprinkling of punk sensibilities, rockabilly…maybe that’s where these guys sit musically. A few songs in and Suggs makes his way to the stage he asks the audience “Has anyone been to Barnet?” (where this band first hailed from). I cheer loudly as that’s where I’ve lived most of life and that’s my football team too!”
This track lead to a stage invasion from Suggs, the band extending out the song, as the mad man bigged up his previous madness singer mate John and joked of his cousin “If it sounds like he is playing out of time, It’s because he is playing out of time.”
A fun moment. Was when the crowd at the front were given “Kazoo’s” and told to play the part of the second banjo in the famous tune “Dueling Banjos”. Which if you know it, as aplay and call back repeat game where you copy the leader. Cant say it worked musically but no one passed out blowing, as Rob got faster with this lead in the song!
My favourite live track taken from the album is “Glendale Train” a rousing tune, and a tale of a train robbery. I sing along and stomp feet to this one fully in the moment.
Chuck Berry Cover “Maybaline” is believe it or not faster in it’s country cover version.
As the band reach their final tune The Cripple Creek Single, ever the wag, Alan Flynn successfully starts the barn dancing dosey doe-ing. 2 linked arms leads to 4 to 8 and the whole front of the room starts swinging in a way only country music encourages. While we thankfully stopped short of line dancing, this was a perfect end to a most enjoyable afternoon and fitting chapter in the story of the Skiff Skats. We thank the band for joining in with us all. Great job guys. Yeee Haaa.
A great time had by, all as everyone headed off next to catch Thommo’s Silencerz that evening.
The bands T-shirts for these events said Skiff Skats on the front and “Reunion & Farewell Gig” on the reverse. We hope it’s not the bands last ever gigs though. With many mad fans left wishing that cousin Hector would give Suggsy a ring and get the band along to The House Of Fun. Where ever the Skiff Skats story goes, we’ll be sure to keep readers of MIS in the loop. Thanks to everyone who came to check them out on Saturday.
Hector Walker: “Phew we made it…I think. Thank you all for coming what a great weekend. As this is 30 years on my knees now ache and I need an early night!
David Carrier: “We did Hector, we did. Could I say a big thank you to all the original and most venerable Skiff Skats, Hector and Hassler ( surely the tuning up has to be a fixture from now on guys. Priceless! ), Sedge and Caspar. All of you made me feel so welcome and Rob for his Herculaen effort in pulling it altogether. When’s the next gig Rob? X”
John Hasler “Thats didn’t sound too bad at all.”
Jonathan Young (Additional content Daren West)
Clang @ Islington
Brilliant evening at The Clang Group record launch, for Clive Langers EP.
Evening topped off with Suggs singing “Love Is The Drug with Andy Mackay from Roxy Music on sax and Bette Bright on backing vocals
Mark Bryant
NEXT WEEK
Next week’s Live and Intensified section will feature reviews of the The Silencerz’ latest gigs.
I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby, goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5 years, 10 and 15 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number 564 – Sunday 21st February – Saturday 27th February 2010
The band may have been keeping things rather low-key at the moment, but there seemed to still be lots going on in the world of Madness.
The biggest item of news this week had to be the announcement the band made, revealing that they’d be performing at York Racecourse on Friday the 23rd of July. You could find all the information on the event, including booking information, elsewhere in this very issue.
Retro Madness were back with yet another one of their amazing offers. As a further clearance offer, the price of the UK 1 track promo CDs for the past 5x Madness singles had been reduced to just £6.99, or £29.99 for all 5 including postage and packing. Bargain!
We took a wander back in time next, as JP of the French MIS regaled us with his experiences of seeing Madness at Printemps De Bourges in France, on the 6th April 1986.
Along with a write-up of the event JP pointed us in the direction of a French-MIS Bourges 86 bundle which included :
– Some photos ge took
– The concert recorded by Lord Magic Nutcase
– A soundcheck featuring Woody and Mark playing “Natural Act”
– 3 songs (audio recordings) recorded from the TV broadcast “The Best Of Printemps de Bourges 1986”
– The interview he recorded
– Some press about this show.
Last month In MIS 559 we brought you the tracklisting news of the re-issues of Absolutely and Seven from Union Square Music. In this issue we brought you news on the sleeve notes and packaging.
Carrying on the digipack format set with the re-release of One Step Beyond we noticed that the spines of these CD’s were indeed marked 2 and 3 as predicted in the series. We also noticed that the (M) at the top of the spine was now (A) and (D) so we were guessing this would eventually turn out to be be…
(N) Presents The Rise & Fall
(E) Keep Moving
(S) The Madness
(S) Wonderful
We brought this issue to a close with the news that Andy Serkis, the actor who played Ian Dury in the film “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll”, was being nominated for a BAFTA the very evening this issue was going out.
10 years ago…
Issue 302 – Sunday 20th February to Saturday 26th February 2005
Following last weeks massive MIS (mainly due to Jonathan donning his reviewers cap and travelling the length and breadth of the country for purely `research purposes`) we were back to a more slimline issue this week.
Things had been fairly quiet over the past seven days, and the articles reflected this. However, it was nice to see that the band had been having a bit of a spring clean of the old web site. Old items of news had been removed, and a whole host of additions had appeared behind a number of band members’ doors. You could find out just what had been added to the site by reading section two of this very MIS.
Could we expect a Madstock 5 this year? If you believed some of the rumours running over on the Official Chas Smash Forums then it the answer was a ‘yes’. However, before you started booking days off work to ensure you’d be at the show, we advised you to read section three first.
Elsewhere on the Chas Smash Forums a release date for the Dangermen album had also been flashed around. As with the Madstock 5 rumour, we advised you to not believe everything you read or heard. Section four had words from the man himself, Carl Smyth, on the very subject.
15 years ago…
Issue 40 – Sunday 20th February to Saturday 26th February 2000
The `Drip Fed Fred` bandwagon continued to rocket along, with news just in that the boys were to perform on ITV’s `This Morning` with Richard and Judy on Monday 28th of Feb, with new video being aired on CD:UK on Saturday 26th.
Elsewhere, Madness fans had been taking to the streets with their own DFF advertising campaign. A certain MIS Online subscriber who we assumed wished to remain nameless told us that `somehow`, the main Ministry of Defence building in Whitehall, London had decided to help the boys out by displaying 4 posters announcing `Vote for Fred…. It’s Madness`, in their windows. What sort of person would do something like that?! Information continued to flood in and it was revealed that not only were the posters being displayed in the MOD, but one of the posters was almost opposite Downing Street!!! Could old Tony Blair have caught sight of these banners as he was whisked to and from meetings? A nation needed to know!!
Continuing with the ever-growing Madness campaign, and on Wednesday 16th, approximately 25 Maddies met up in Camden Town for a `Drip fed Fred` poster blitz and advertising campaign. Total Madness Mailing List subscriber, Chris Mountain reported that “457 million (a possible exaggeration?) `Vote For Fred` flyers were stuck all over the place, whilst `Fred` sandwich boards were lofted above the heads of a number of people. Apparently spirits got a little out of hand at one point and the local police made a brief appearance due to the gathering behaving a little `too naughty`!
A certain Mr Chas Smash appeared later on and handed Adele Hargreaves a gift to say `Thank you` for helping to organise the DFF rendezvous whilst everyone else was treated to a free drink. Bedders also managed to pop along and various photo opportunities and chats got underway. Chas then proceeded to phone his manager and a few members of the lucky party were put on the TFI guest list for last Friday’s show.
To finish off the week, Madness were once again present on Chris Evan’s Channel Four show, `TFI Friday` where they were of course performing the forthcoming single, `Drip Fed Fred`. Here’s Jerney with a lowdown of what went on;
“All of the guys were there, except Lee who went on holiday with his family, so that is the reason why he wasn’t at the recording of the show.
They were really nice and they all gave us the chance to get as many autographs and photographs as we liked. Chrissy Boy even posed in front of a nice green bush for us and the pics turned out beautiful!
Their gig was superb, wasn’t it?! I even think Suggs recognised me from December, because when he took his pic with me he looked at me and said “hey ya?! How are you, are you ok?”
Nice bloke!
What I found a bit sad was that (I think!) Mike came all the way from Amsterdam in the morning and he had quite some trouble finding a parking place with his (rented????) Vauxhall car. Then, when he finally found a place and he went inside to do the show he wasn’t shown on TV at all, not once!
Don’t you think that is a bit unfair? They might have saved him the trouble of coming all the way over for just one song and then not being on TV at all, they could have got another keyboard player instead, to play in his place, like they did with Lee.
But there you go, people who work for TV just don’t think!”
Wise words indeed!
Well, with all the various bits and pieces that had been going on over the past week, we had a truly bumper issue of the MIS. First up was Brendan Phipps with the latest batch of tour dates from the excellent Madness tribute band, `One Step Behind`. Mark Bedford had kindly been typing away in the effort to give us all a swift beginners course in record producing by explaining how and why the Madness single and album release dates have been changing.
Further on in, and Peter Gardner and Chris Carter-Pegg had managed to get their hands on the promo and single releases of `Drip Fed Fred`. In this issue you could read just what they thought of the tracks and what we had to look forward to.
Vince Foley returned with a superb track-by-track review of the recently released rarities CD, `Nutty Sounds 4, Wozza was here with news that blockheads.co.uk had finally been awarded the accolade of `Official Ian Dury Fansite`. And if all that wasn’t enough, Wee Stoo was here with a blow-by-blow account of the first ever Scottish Madmeet!!
Rob Hazelby
TWEETS OF A DOVE / THAT FACEBOOK
Recent snippets from the Twitterverse and Facebook that have caught our interest…
Daily Mirror Suggs Twitter Q & A
As mentioned last issue, we told you to look out for the band in the Daily Mirror this week. Well, on Friday details of their tour appeared along with a full article and interview. Tied in with this was a live Twitter session with Suggs on the Daily Mirror celeb channel. Below is a full transcript of the Q and A.
Daily Mirror – Suggs is in the building get your questions in.
Mat Marston “Where is your favourite venue to play live?”
Suggs – “The Dublin castle, Camden or the roof of Buckingham palace, are the best venues.”
Grumpo Marx “Dogs or cats?”
Suggs – “I prefer cats, I have six”
Toby Hancock – “Where did the name Suggs come from”
Suggs – “Picked from an Encyclopedia of jazz musicians”
Gemma Messian – “How did it feel to play on top of Buckingham Palace for The queen?”
Suggs – “It felt unbelievable, and I still have some of the lead at home.”
Luc jones – “What are you most proud of in you’re music career?”
Suggs – “I’m most proud of The Liberty of Norton Folgate.”
Anthony Lavea – “If you could perform with anyone past or present, dead or alive, who would it be.
Suggs – “I would have liked to have performed with Dead or Alive.”
Someone asks – “Where’s Chas?”
Suggs ” He’s on a sabbatical at the moment.”
Katy Watkins – “Do any of the other band members have bad habits?”
Suggs – “Yeah”
Katy Watkins – “If you could go back in time is there anything you do differently?”
Suggs – “I would have been born an iguana.”
Dan Fossard – “What’s the winning formula for writing classic pop songs? You seem to have had it for over 35 years!”
Suggs – “Thanks. Great words and a good tune.”
Ian Fitzgibbon – “Hob nob or digestive?”
Suggs – ” Digestive definitely”
People ask “Why no Scottish date on the Grandslam UK tour?”
Suggs – “I love Scotland, Watch this space, for Scottish tour dates”
Amphetameanies asked “How often do you get your suits cleaned?”
Suggs – “In the early days my famous suits got cleaned “Never””
Chris Campbell asks “Are you currently Involved in any interesting projects?”
Suggs – “I’m currently involved in a production of Our House the Musical in a young offenders prison. If you’d like to see it details are on the Pimlico Opera website.”
Gary Knight – ” Is it true Lee was offered the role of Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey.”
Suggs – “Yes, he auditioned his Underpants.”
Katy Watkins “Will there be any more House of Fun weekends after this year? Do you enjoy doing them?”
Suggs “you betcha, wow what a line up this year and to be announced shortly”
Patrick Lynn “Where’s the best spot to buy one of your suits!”
Suggs – “Gresham Blake.”
Grace Kiteley – “What can we expect from ‘An Evening With Suggs and Friends’?”
Suggs – “March 12 Emirates Stadium in aid of pancreatic cancer, Madness Rudimental and a galaxy of footy super stars.”
Ian Fitzgibbon ” Hi Suggs are you and the guys writing a new album ?”
Suggs – ” Yes we are and boy does it sound good”
Paul andale – “Baggy Trousers or tight trouser?”
Suggs – ” In the words of the great Greek philosopher Shaun Ryder ‘It’s got to be a loose fit'”
Suggs second favourite Madness song is Embarrassment
Ashleigh – “why did you run away from Tracy &Carol @ Butlins Nov 2014?”
Suggs – “I do apologise I was rushing off to see Shy FX”
Suggs – “in the words of that great Irish philosopher Frankie Howerd “Twitter ye not, my work here is done.'”
TIME…
Please note that in this busy week for concerts being announced their have also been reports of gigs in Germany and USA listed against the name Madness. We believe these aren’t related to our favourite band but other lower level DJ acts and local named artists of the country of origin. One even has a punctuation mark within the name spelling. Ignore these, they aren’t Madness gigs and always check www.madness.co.uk
Hazel Foster points out this next link. If you are a South East postcode resident of London and want to attend the entire Black heath festival which would cost around £90 to most buyers, You can get it for £70 here if you can prove your postcode.
This week Carl did appear as predicted on the radio, or at least nearly. He was pictured in the studio with Jools Holland recording a show. He’ll be a guest on Jools Series on Radio 2 on his new series ,which airs from Monday.
In Next week’s MIS we’ll be featuring reviews of The Silencerz latest gigs and we’ll also bring you the lowdown on Nick Woodgate’s “Hope” EP.
Finally, Madness fans of a Britpop age might be interested to know Blur will be releasing a new album called “Magic Whip”, in April.
Until next week, take care, and have a good one!
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
(With thanks to Daren West, Mark Bryant, Hazel Foster, Jacek Gajewski)
The Author
