Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 828 – Sunday 22nd March to Saturday 28th March 2015
Hello, and a very warm welcome to the latest edition of the MIS Online newsletter.
Earlier this week subscriber Mark Doherty, contacted us with some rather fun news. It turns out that the Grandslam has now been promoted by the band, who have now named a horse after the tour.
The 17:30 race at Chelmsford race course was named the “Madness Grandslam Tour 3rd June Handicap”. We felt that this was a nice touch that would have reached every race-following punter that day at the track, and possibly many beyond who follow these races in the bookies.
Now, enough with the equine news. Let’s get 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
5 – Montrose, East Links, Scotland
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
Near Jazz Experience
March
24th – NEAR JAZZ EXPERIENCE + Support + DJ
Indo 133 Whitechapel Rd, London E1 1DT *Free*
Visit: https://www.facebook.com/NearJazzExperience
Clang! * New *
March
27th – St Moritz Club, Soho, London. (Part of the Blow up event evening)
The Silencerz ft. Lee Thompson
May
9th The Junction, Cambridge, Support Terry Hall (DJ set)
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
July
24th Llangollen Town Hall, Denbrighshire, Wales (Fringe Festival Event)
August
1st The Garage Highbury, London
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
BUY IT
* New * Lovestruck – (7 inch single – Buy on Record Store Day
April 18th In Stores.
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.
Comes with a 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.
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 * New CD edition coming * 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.
Pre-Order Now on Amazon. * Song samples now online *
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TZEMCMQ
OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE A SIGNED ALBUM INSTEAD * New Info *
http://www.propermusic.com/product-details/Woody-Woodgate-In-Your-Mind-Ltd-Autographed-Edition-188454
Album released June 1st.
(website **Now live**. Details to follow) 13 tracks with new band line up and vocalist Dan Shears.
We’re All Going To Brighton (In The Mix preview video of the new sound)
MIS FEATURE – WOMBLE THE MOVIE
No, it’s nothing to do with the big hairy creatures who roam Wimbledon common. This new crowd funded movie project promises an appearance within the movie by The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra…
Here is what the project page says, along with a video about the project…
We are a North Wales based film company who work closely with local actors and crew to create film. our new project is called Womble, this is a story of a man in his thirties living with the condition Aspergers. He faces many social issues in the community, and is victimised or the way he lives, his Image as well as his personality. This man is eccentric, even his name is unusual {Aloysis Rupert Womble} but he is also very Intelligent, creative and talented. like most of us he has a dream, he wants to be a stand up comedian, like his heroes from the 1980s, Cooper, Ball, Cricket and Bowen.
In Womble we get a glimpse into the life of this extra ordinary man over a seven day period as he prepares for the biggest night of his life, a talent show at his local pub.
http://www.gofundme.com/womblemovie
LIVE AND INTENSIFIED
The Benefit Show for Henry McCullough – London 17 March 2015
Putney’s Half Moon was heaving on St Patrick’s night with great music, familiar faces, and five of the biggest ‘stars’ loosely associated with London’s old pub rock scene. It was all in aid of former Grease Band and Wings guitarist Henry McCullough, who in 2012 suffered a massive heart attack and now finds himself in reduced circumstances and wheelchair-bound.
The charitable evening was proposed and skilfully organised by Dave Robinson, of Stiff Records fame, who has known Henry since the 1960s when Dave managed Irish band, Eire Apparent.
The evening’s music commenced with a funky set by London’s world-class musicians, Tim Hinkley (keyboards/vocals), Mel Collins (sax), Neil Hubbard (guitar), John Halsey (drums), Bob Tench (guitar/vocals), Steve Simpson (guitar/vocals), and Kuma Harada (bass). The Band’s ‘The Shape I’m In’ and McCullough’s ‘Gone With Another’ were stand-outs. Kokomo’s Tony O’Malley made a guest appearance for Bill Withers’ ‘Use Me’, and the band was then on hand to furnish versatile accompaniment for some of the name singers that followed.
In between sets there was an auction, in which many items of rock memorabilia went for eye-watering receipts, largely down to the style and skill of auctioneer, Nick Stewart. These included a platinum disc for ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ (awarded to McCullough); a set of Beatles LPs (signed by Paul McCartney, whose virtual presence was duly noted), and some fine cheddar cheeses, 45-disk shaped, with appropriate ‘record labels’, courtesy of the Town Mill Cheesemonger. The ‘So It Goes’ / ‘Heart of the City’ cheese went for £600.
First-up, post auction, was Nick Lowe, who received a hero’s welcome from the capacity crowd and delivered a chilling version of McCullough’s ‘Failed Christian’. Nick was soon joined by Andy Fairweather Low and Paul Carrack for an acoustic and harmony strum along on some old classics, including Ray Charles’ ‘Crying Time’, Bobby Darin’s ‘Things’, and Johnny Cash’s ‘I Don’t Hurt Anymore’.
It was then left to Carrack to rouse the audience with his evergreen ‘How Long’, which no doubt reminded Paul of a football crowd sing-along on the Sheffield Wednesday terraces.
Graham Parker was up next for storming performances of ‘Local Girls’ and ‘Soul Shoes’. Close your eyes and it could have been The Rumour, so sympathetic was the band.
The evening finished with Suggs, who was charm personified, delivering his Madness hits, ‘It Must Be Love’ and ‘Madness’.
http://a1onthejukebox.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-benefit-show-for-henry-mccullough.html
Will Birch
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 568 – Sunday 21st March – Saturday 27th March 2010
We were only a few days away from the 10th anniversary of the sad passing of Ian Dury, who lost his battle with cancer on the 27th March 2000.
This hadn’t gone unnoticed by the BBC as both Radio 6 and Radio 2 were about to air programmes to commemorate the life of the musical genius. Radio 6 had The Blockheads in session, while Radio 2 would be airing “Reasons to be Cheerful”, a documentary narrated by Andy Serkis, who had played Ian in the film “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll”. These two shows looked to be essential listening for any self respecting Dury fan.
Moving on, and it seemed as if a week wouldn’t go by without yet another Madness related Facebook group cropping up. This week was no different as it saw the creation of a “Bring Our House Musical Back to the West End”. With 18 members subscribed we were uncertain as to how much influence this group would have on bringing the show back to the capital, but we could hope.
Next, it was over to subscriber ‘Spike’, who reported that his Mad Inc YouTube channel was playing host to more Lee Thompson tributes to the late, great Ian Dury, and that further videos would be uploaded soon.
We brought this issue to a close with a few words from Chris. Chris had heard that one of Madness’ old managers, Matthew Stzumpf, had suffered a brain tumour, and we were all asked to spare him a thought.
10 years ago…
Issue number 306 – Sunday 20th March to Saturday 26th March 2005
This pre-Easter edition of the MIS saw the editorial team away from their keyboards, and instead, out and about, making the most of the fantastic weather the weekend was kind enough to dish out.
However, between soaking up the rays, the team still found time to put together this week’s edition of the MIS.
Before we got the issue underway, we had a few words from Carl, which would have been of interest to those who were still waiting for the next Madness single box set to appear;
“Owing to issues of pressing costs at the factory this box set was delayed. The cause for delay is no longer an issue, but Virgin Records wish to talk with V2 so that the release can benefit both parties…as of course we are now signed to V2”.
No firm release date had been given, but Cathal continued by saying:
“It will be released and most probably this year”.
As always, we promised to let the MIS readership know more about this as soon as we heard anything further.
Moving on to this week’s collection of articles, and Graham Whitfield emailed in to report that Suggs had made an appearance on Radio 2’s Lee Mack Show.
Graham pointed out that the chat was obviously pre-arranged, but it turned out to be a very amusing conversation with a mix of Madness history, and some terrible jokes thrown in for good measure.
Ever since the events at Madstock 1992, there have been many Madness fans who have enjoyed mocking the one and only Mozza. Well, according to a certain Jonathan Young, it would seem that an entire DVD devoted to mocking the Morrissey fanbase was now available to purchase.
“My Life With Morrissey” was a dark comedy that chronicled the adventures of an off-kilter officer girl whose life unravelled when she met her idol, Morrissey, and sets off on a journey of obsessive self delusion.
More info could be found at: www.mylifewithmorrissey.com or from Amazon.co.uk.
Since MIS co-editor, Jonathan Young, started his truly terrible Madness pundown on the MIS forum following the announcement of the 2005 Forest Tour, a number of subscribers had entered into the spirit of things by submitting a few crap entries themselves. While for most people it was something they’d only spend a minute or two on at most, it seemed that MOT drummer, Dan Fossard had a little more spare time on his hands, as his slew of puns clearly showed.
We finished off this week’s issue advising you all to get over to the JAG web site where the band had made a studio recording of one of their songs available for download. Entitled “Sister Josephine”, it was classic Britpop.
15 years ago…
Issue number 44 – Sunday 19th March to Saturday 25th March 2000
Another week had gone by and yet the Madness internet community still seemed to be alight with chat relating to the recent chart position of ‘Drip Fed Fred’, and to a lesser extent, last year’s album.
So the releases didn’t get to number one, but did fans honestly expect them to? The charts were currently full to bursting with mind-numbing boy and girl bands with massive PR companies all trying to knock one another off the top spot by ploughing in huge sums of cash for advertising. OK, so ‘our’ band never had this kind of marketing muscle made available to them, but what they lacked there, they more than made up for in the quality of tracks lovingly placed on the album.
We advised you to sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that whilst there was all this rubbish in the charts you could simply put on the new Madness CD and listen to some quality music!!
Following the band’s appearance on TFI Friday and The National Lottery, Simon Roberts had been busy encoding the video footage, ready for the rest of us to download. Weighing in at just over two megabytes each, the clips weren’t brilliant quality, but for many who were still on dial-up at the time, they wouldn’t take too long to download or stream.
Elsewhere, Vincent Carden reported that a number of CDR acetates were currently doing the rounds. The discs featured the following tracks:
– Drip Fed Fred (Conspiracy mix)
– Elysium
– We want Freddie
– Light of the way
The above could be picked up for the small sum of £20. Very little, for those hardcore collectors used to paying a small fortune for such things to add to their ever-growing Madness library.
Moving on, and the TMML’s Scatty reported that in a recent email from Virgin it stated that a re-mastered version of Divine Madness was on its way, and that it may have the new singles on it, too.
And, for those keen to embrace the new DVD technology it looked as if a DVD release was on the cards.
On a sad note, `Total Madness Mailing List` maintainer, Jenny Payne revealed that The Magnificent Seven’s plans to play on Spanish soil had now been halted. No further news was available at the time of this issue being released, but if we heard anything, we’d let you know.
Onto this issue now, and as usual it was full to bursting. The latest catalogue from Madness mail order giant, PLR Madmail had recently been released. If you weren’t subscribed to their mailing list or you’d not had the pleasure of ordering from them in the past, perhaps the article in this issue would change all that.
Staying with you record collectors out there. We suggested you plan your trips to Camden by making sure they co-incide with one of their famous record fairs.
Further on, and `Uncle Mart` gave us his views on the whole Madness comeback saga. If you were of a nervous disposition, we suggested you may have wanted to skip this one!
If you were one of those people whose idea of heaven would include numerous pints of beer and lots of irrelevant Madness chat, then Mr. G’s announcement that the `Mc Madmeet 2` was in the planning stages would obviously be of interest to you. Thanks to Mr. G, we had dates and contact addresses. All you had to do was sign up.
Peter Gardner of the TMML told us that the re-mastered version of `Divine Madness` was already receiving varying release dates depending on what website you visited. Our suggestion was that you got the diary out and penciled-in multiple reminders over the course of a couple of months!
And finally, thanks to Claire Keegan, we had the most up-to-date gig listing for the excellent Madness tribute band, `Complete Madness`.
With a gig listing this large, there was no excuse for not seeing them play live at least once!
Rob Hazelby
TWEETS OF A DOVE / THAT FACEBOOK
There was a lovely post on Facebook about a week ago from a father of an autistic child…
“I don’t know if any of the band read these posts.
I have been listening and going to Madness gigs since I was 8, but would like to say a big heartfelt thank you as my son is autistic and does not communicate very well as he is trapped in his own little world.
Yesterday, whilst driving, we had Madness playing in the car and he started singing to “Drip Fed Fred”, and what a shock that was to my wife and myself as to get a reaction from him is usually very difficult. We were so shocked we had to stop the car as [my] wife was in floods of tears. So, a BIG THANK YOU to all of you. It may sound small but to us its a massive step to our lad.
Thank you once again. I do hope someone from the band reads this ..spike McNulty”.
Lee Thompson replied that this was “Priceless”, while Chris Foreman commented it was “Lovely”, with Woody adding the statement “The power of music”.
In contrast with this wonderful human story was the confusion of a fan, and some compounded utter rubbish in replies, on a topic about the band being about to split up. Woody tweeted and dismissed this tosh with a simple “No”, and Chris amusingly commented “Oh, have we split up again? I’ll get me coat”
Chrissy Boy @CBoyForeman
“A very sad day yesterday. My last ever Steve Strange guest list. I had so many laughs with Steve. Goodbye Steve X”
Mark Bedford @I_be_MarkB
“Is it safe to go outside yet? #eclipse2015”
Woody Woodgate @woodymadness
“Do us a favour. Read this and sign the petition.
http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=32&ea.campaign.id=36554&ea.tracking.id=TWpage”
TIME…
This week the Dublin Castle Facebook page seemed to suggest there would be a Ska Orchestra matinee show in the back band room, as they asked… “Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra, to The DC for a Sunday matinee show April 19th… if your ska band fancies taking to the stage after El Thommo and co that evening when the Ancestral Seat Of Madness is packed to the rafters with eager skanking nutty boys n gals drop Bug Bear an email here music@bugbearbookings.com”
Comedically or confusingly, Lee Thompson himself wrote. “Oh Really? I’m at the sea side with my grandkids that day. Will try to get along. If not, have a great time.”, suggesting this early mention of a gig is perhaps not as concrete as even a sandcastle! We will therefore leave it out of the gig diary for now, until clarification, and the Dublin Castle or bugbear put the day into their own gig diary.
Until next week, take care,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
(With thanks to Mark Doherty, Mark Adamson, Will Birch, Spike McNulty)
The Author
