Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 825 – Sunday 1st March to Saturday 7th March 2015
Hello, and a very warm welcome to the latest issue of the MIS Online Bulletin.
You join us this week as Madness hit number one in the charts. The music charts? Unfortunately not. Instead, MIS regular Paul Rodgers, reports that Madness are number one in Ticketmaster’s “most searched artists” category. As he rightly says “Clearly the Grandslam message has reached a very wide audience”.
On the subject of the Madness Grandslam, yet another video has been produced to help promote the event. It won’t win any awards, and it does look like it was quickly put together, but what it does do is demonstrate just how many gigs this forthcoming tour will feature.
Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9BtyyCsp44&feature=youtu.be
Now, on with the issue!
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).
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
30 – Gloucester Rugby Club
June
3 Chelmsford City Racecourse
6 – Portsmouth, Fratton Park
26 – Newmarket Racecourses
27 – Doncaster Racecourse
28 – Hove, Sussex County Cricket Club
July
2 – Silverstone Circuit
3 – St Helens, Haydock Park Racecourse
4 – Carlisle Racecourse
9 – Epsom Downs Racecourse
10 – Chepstow Racecourse
11 – Rhyll Outdoor Events Arena
September
11 – Canterbury, Kent County Cricket Club
12 – Bristol, Gloucester County Cricket Club
13 – London, On Blackheath
18 – Leeds, Yorkshire County Cricket Club
25 – Wolverhampton
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/
* This week * Suggs is also appearing in Our House The Musical. In Isis Prison, Woolwich http://www.pimlicoopera.co.uk/
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)
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
July
*** New *** 24th Llangollen Town Hall, Denbrighshire, Wales (Fringe Festival Event)
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.
*** New Details ***
Pre-Order Now on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TZEMCMQ
Album released June 1st.
(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…
Elbow and Madness to top festival bill at OnBlackheath festival
Madness singer Suggs – who is set to play the Emirates Stadium for An Evening With Suggs And Friends to raise money for pancreatic cancer in March – said: “We thought we’d left no stone unturned in London. Palaces, parks, stadiums – and now the kind people of Blackheath are letting us play there.
Let’s hope we don’t cause an earthquake south of the river.”
MIS FEATURE – HOPE IS COMING – NICK WOODGATE EP
Following the release of his debut album “Morning”, which is still available on iTunes, Nick Woodgate is back with a new EP. Here’s the man himself with the news…
“It is a 6 song EP called Hope.
The track listing is:
All Of You
1966
Every Day
Looby
See You Next Weekend
You Can Run You Can Hide
1966 is an inspirational song about that year. (Features a reference to Beatles tracks)
All proceeds go to Rethink Mental Illness Charity. It is just going to be a download at the moment. “ NICK.
…
The cover depicts a break in the forest tree line with a crack of blue sky peering downwards. Piano features nicely on the first track.
On a personal note, beyond all Nick’s songs having personal meanings of course to him, this EP is incredibly personal to the MIS team, as track 4 is about one of our own, Looby Loo. Nick was inspired to write this song after hardships suffered last year and hearing worrying news, fitting then for an EP called Hope that salvation was the outcome of so much Hope. A tear-jerker of a song, marks the time. Looby: “It’s beautiful, stunning, can’t really put it into words.”
We’ve heard the tracks on the EP and will bring a review nearer to the release of the tracks onto I tunes.
Nick Woodgate / MIS
LIVE AND INTENSIFIED
The Silencerz @ The Black Horse, Barnet 21/2/15
It’s off to the Black Horse to see Thommo but before that I get to see an old work colleague of mine in his band called Not Tonight Josephine. Why do I mention this? Well aside from their great selection of covers such as Procul Harum, Queen, Human League, Soft Cell, Kirsty MacColl (There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis AND New England) they play These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ – the Nancy Sinatra tune that Lee Thompson includes in most of these gigs. A great warm up for the music that lay ahead!
Talking of Thommo, between band sets my old work mate Barry tells me that many years ago his mate Paul was throwing a birthday house party which included a live band that he was part of in the back garden to help the festivities along. There was a knock on the door and a ‘passer by’ shall we say asked if he could come and join in for a ‘musical jam’. He was welcomed in carrying his music case. Once in the garden he opened this and started joining in playing the sax notes as each song demanded. Yes – Thommo had infiltrated this particular Barnet party and funnier still is that the host whose birthday it was, although very grateful for the saxophone accompaniment, didn’t know who Lee was!! Classic Thommo.
Onto the gig; I get to the Black Horse around quarter to nine and it’s absolutely heaving in here. There is hardly anywhere to move – it’s very uncomfortable I get to the bar :o) and get quickly served however there’s nowhere else to go that’s anywhere near the stage. At this point support band Reece are on stage playing some classic tunes; Rock The Casbah by The Clash, Up The Junction by Squeeze, Too Much Too Young by The Specials. All greatly performed however one tune in particular has to be picked out. Absolutely album track In The Rain gets an airing. It’s vocal delivery very similar to Suggs’ dead pan matter-of-fact style of that ‘lesser heard live’ Madness song.
By this time I’ve found a real vantage point looking onto the side of the stage which is sectioned off from those standing in the ‘mosh pit’ facing the band. As I look across the stage and beyond I can see a further dozen punters eager to be as close as possible with their faces pressed against the window as they’re outside in the pub garden! As I said – it’s packed in here!!
The Silencerz are on stage at 9.30ish however Lee is nowhere to be seen. The band ably carry on – was this on purpose to see if the band could cope without Lee? Or was Thommo time in overdrive? Either way, unbelievably he wasn’t missed for the opening salvo Ian Dury’s Wake Up or The Beatles Hey Bulldog. Not ‘til song 3 did Thommo arrive on stage wearing an overcoat and he’s got his sax in its case. Lee’s face is glistening; perhaps it’s been raining a bit outside.
“Sorry I’m late everyone I fell asleep watching Fred Dibnah on the telly. You know Fred Dibnah? Yeah him” explains Lee now free of his overcoat which he’s thrown on the stage floor. Itching In My Heart is played next with Thommo in tow. From my vantage point – I’m literally touching distance from one of the keyboard players – I’ve got a brilliant ‘side on’ view. I can clearly see that Thommo is not wet from any rain – he’s sprinkled some glitter on his face. Well…why not?!
Havin A Laugh is next up and has a refrain along the lines of ‘When I Want Sun, I Get Rain’. It’s a decent mellow tune and just like their other self-penned tune Callie Road needs a few listens before getting that ‘earworm’ effect! The sound quality is surprisingly good – Daley gives a shout out compliment this.
The set as always with The Silencerz is fantastic albeit shorter than usual with a still impressive 17 set of songs they finish at the 11pm curfew with Sunny Afternoon. Much to everyone’s delight a stage hand says they can play 2 more. The keyboard players shout of No No No gets played followed These Boots Were Made For Walkin’ which is timely cos as soon as they’ve finished playing I’m heading off down the road just in time to catch the last bus home. Yet another superb show by The Silencerz – well done fellas!
Setlist – Blackhorse 21/2/15
Wake up and Make Love
Hey Bulldog
Itching In My Heart
Havin A Laugh
Clevor Trevor
My Girl
More Than Fair
No Lights
Lola
Callie Road
Mother & Child Reunion
The Prince
Midnight Rider
Freedom St
Soon You’ll Be Gone
Encore
Hello Josephine
Sunny Afternoon
Note – there was no encore these were played as part of the set itself
No No No
These Boots Were Made For Walkin’
Note – not on the set list and added on as time allowed
Daren West
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 565 – Sunday 28th February – Saturday 6th March 2010
Following last week’s announcement revealing that the band were due to play York Racecourse on the evening of 23th July, further performances had now been added to the list.
The band would now also be playing:
– T in The Park, Scotland, on the 11th of July
– Quex Park, Margate, on the 24th of July
– Epsom Racecourse, on the 29th of July
– Newmarket Racecourse, on the 6th of August
Next, we moved on the Daily Star web site who reported that a £2 million advert produced using Government money and starring Suggs, had been blasted a waste of time and money by other groups and organisations.
Ministers insisted the advert had led to an upsurge in the numbers of people using the DirectGov web site, and that this could in turn lead to savings of up to £400 million.
Following this we took a look at the latest round of offers currently running on the Retro Madness web site. It turned out that there weren’t any new offers to report of, but a number of previous sales were still running. These included brand new copies of the Nutty Boys / Crunch! cassette single of “It’s OK, I’m a Polieman” and CDs of the last five Madness singles.
The cassette could be purchased for £1.99 including p+p, while the CD package was £29.99 including p+p. Not bad at all!
How did you fancy getting your child a part in the production of Madness musical Our House? Well, in this issue you had a chance. Paul Rodgers reported that the White Rock Theatre, Hastings, were looking to hold their Summer Youth Project, a production of the Our House Musical, and they wanted children aged 8 to 18 to take part. All you had to do was get your child along to the auditions.
It was over to Spike of Mad Inc Films next, as he showed off his latest audio visual production – Lee Thompson singing The Prince, at a recent Like Father Like Son gig. The video’s still available, and can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYxjhRacHZE
We brought this issue to a close with news from Emma Southerby, who reported that a few tickets for the Songs in the Key of London gig were still available. Taking place at London’s Barbican, this was co-curated by Chris Difford (Squeeze) and featured Blaine Harrison (Mystery Jets), Robyn Hitchcock, Jools Holland, James Hunter, Derek Hussey, Becky Jacobs & Mike Lindsay (of Tunng), Natty, Rico Rodriguez, Chas Smash (Madness), Peggy Sue, Andy Serkis (Ian Dury – Sex Drugs & Rock & Roll, Gollum – Lord of the Rings) & Chaz Jankel, Suggs (Madness), Glenn Tilbrook, Kathryn Williams & more.
10 years ago…
Issue 303 – Sunday 27th February to Saturday 5th March 2005
We started off this issue with the news that Madness retailers ‘madness4sale’ (these days known as Retro Madness) had won the tender to market everything that remained of Tiger Aspect’s merchandise and promotional goods left over from the Our Hour Musical.
The aim of this mass purchase by ‘madness4sale’ was to give fans the best possible deals on the remaining merchandise, with most items being listed at less than half their original price.
A mega pack was also available comprising an Our House carrier bag containing all 6 of the different T Shirts at your choice of size together with a Mug, Programme, Cloth Patch, 2 Keyrings, 6 Flyers and an Enamel Badge all for just £59.95 (normal price over £120).
Elsewhere, we featured an exclusive question and answer session with Bedders. These originally appeared on the skadancecraze.com web site, and it was there we urged you to go if you wanted to read the full interview.
This week Virgin Radio had been busy promoting Suggs’ radio show on their station, with adverts in national UK papers urging people to take part in their £25,000 joke competition. All you had to do was email the station with your joke, the best would get read out by the man himself, and his favourite would win £25,000.
Moving on, and we reproduced an article which originally appeared on the Youth Music web site. Featuring the one and only Carl Smyth, this saw the great man chat about all things Madness, and their forthcoming album of covers, due for release in April.
Next, it was all a bit cloak and dagger, as we revealed that the band would be playing at least one live gig this coming summer. How did we know this? Well, earlier in the week we received an email from an MIS subscriber who passed this information on to us, but asked that we keep their name under wraps. Our source was claiming to be quite reliable, as they informed us that they knew of a number of previous gigs from other bands before they were officially announced.
15 years ago…
Issue number 41 – Sunday 27th February to Saturday 4th March 2000
This week we had news of a possibly `lost verse` in the classic Madness track `Johnny The Horse`. This verse turned out to be one that MIS subscriber MTB had put together as their preferred ending to the track.
These final lyrics were as follows:
“Evening fell that fateful day,
he screamed out loud with nothing to say.
So drunk, he felt no pain,
so low he felt no shame.
Forgotten forever,
and outta the game,
Johnny The horse,
Will you remember his name?”
Moving on, and we featured a really terrible review of `Wonderful`. This one was so bad that it really had to be seen to be believed. Thankfully, the transcripting skills of one Dominic Kearney gave us the chance to read it and shake our heads en-masse.
Next-up was MIS subscriber Ian Taylor, who wrote in informing us that he’d been basing his entire English lesson around the Drip Fed Fred election campaign. The response from his pupils had been excellent, and he also explained that he had urged them to go out any buy it on release.
Ian had also sent press releases off to all his local papers, tying in with a play he was directing at the time. The press release covered his Madness obsession, and promised all people coming to watch that play that they’ll get a chance to hear the new single.
Elsewhere, we had Vince Foley who had yet again managed to get hold of a Madness single BEFORE the official release date. Here you could find out just what the legendary Vince thought of the releases in his excellent review he’d put together.
Simsey meanwhile was asking all Blockhead fans for some help with the Official Ian Dury Fansite, and if all that wasn’t enough, we also had a review of the latest edition of `Ska Mad`.
Rob Hazelby
TWEETS OF A DOVE / THAT FACEBOOK
Recent snippets from the Twitterverse and Facebook that have caught our interest…
Graham McPherson @suggsmcpherson
“Yes have been in prison for the last month, working with young offenders on the most remarkable production of ‘our house’ Come Along.”
Woody Woodgate
“He’s not wrong” (A facebook reply to the statement Suggs made about possible Scottish date for Grandslam.)
Woody Woodgate
“Thanks for all the positive feedback. Yes there will be signed copies (of the album In Your Mind, possibly available from the website), and yes I will do some gigs in between the Madness Grand Slam Shows”
Chrissy Boy @CBoyForeman
“Now available on itunes…CRUNCH! – The Nutty Boys – https://itun.es/i6Bz3Ps #iTunes”
Talking about the next The Nutty Boy – Lee Thompson band or gig of Crunch songs on facebook…
Lee Thompson
“Let’s get another Fiddlers Elbow together, I’m having withdrawal symptoms here! Emma’s top of my VIP list……x”
Talking about the Silencerz gig on Facebook..
Lee Thompson
“Fell asleep in front of Fred Dibnah on catchup. Band went on with out me. So (& still) unprofessional but I’d do it all over again. Fred for President….Freddy for our Leader….Fred is GOD(& Eric Clapton of course)”
On The LTSO…
Lee Thompson
”Llangollen Town Hall confirmed for 24th.July Unfortunately Mr Bedford will be absent for this but we have a surprise guest standing in & a distant relation of Madonna, who once played in the New York Dolls! LT”
TIME…
That’s almost it for this week’s edition of the MIS, but before we go we’d like to give you a quick heads-up on a recently uploaded YouTube video.
Media student Natalie Fitzgerald tells us “I Produced a documentary about the Dublin Castle as part of my course in Uni last autumn and now finally uploaded it.
It features a bit of Madness so check it out if you want. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvnnU-5T-c “
The documentary also features Swagga, a band followers of MIS and Specialized will be familiar with by now.
Please take a look, and don’t forget to leave some feedback once you’ve watched it.
Until next week, take care.
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
(With thanks to Daren West, Paul Rodgers, and Natalie Fitzgerald)