Madpost – December 1996
Hello and welcome to the Christmas edition of the Madpost.
Ok, so when you lot get it Christmas will still be a good 3 – 4 weeks away, but I know some of you access the net with your uni accounts and this will be the last Madpost you’ll see until mid – late January.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the latest news/rumours and gossip that have been unearthed by either myself or other maddies…
Here’s a little snippet from our very own Yvonne who picked up this little bit regarding Suggs:
“Did I just hear right?”
“I was listening (with half an ear) to Capital FM (London), and a rather pathetic, but nevertheless *FANTASTIC* and said that Lord Suggs was playing at the Forum in Kentish Town on the 21st December…”
**** I guess this is our Christmas concert we’ve been looking for! ***
“It didn’t say anything about the rest of the band, so it’s gonna be a night of The Lone Ranger, and the entire contents of that album. Still, that won’t stop a few of his mates turning up..? Unfortunately, I don’t think those obnoxious girl rappers will be banned from the club either. Still, it obviously promises to be a knees up, OF COURSE!”
“Don’t quote me on this, bit if I remember rightly, the number is:
0171 344 0044
The tickets will probably be around a tenner (not the ridiculous prices of Madstock, as the Forum is only a pokey little hole of a club!).”
“Please, please, please tell me that I wasn’t dreaming!”
Well, it turned out that Yvonne wasn’t dreaming after all as I managed to find an article in the Daily Mirror a few weeks back advertising Suggs and his concert dates. Here are the details…
CHRISTMAS TOUR DECEMBER 96
Sunday 8th ILFORD ISLAND 0181514 4400
Monday 9th IPSWICH REGENT 01473 281480
Tuesday 17th WOLVERHAMPTON CIVIC HALL 01902 312030
Thursday 19th POOLE ARTS CENTRE 01202 685222
Sunday 21st LONDON FORUM 0171 344 0044
All tickets 15 pounds.
Tickets for the “London Forum” gig can also be ordered by phoning: 0171 734 8932 or writing to:
Stargreen Box Office,
20/21A Argyll St,
London,
W1V 1AA
It looks like at least 2 of the shows will be on the radio as BRMB and Capital FM both have their logo’s on the advert.
Well, with everyone including thier gran now hosting Madness pages on the web Jordan Leigh has decided that he can also have a go at putting one together.
Jordan promises to try to NOT include material that can be found on other sites. Jordan told me;
“I intend to incorporate many ideas that have not been done before as it’s a bit pointless having 20 sites devoted to the same thing.”
Jordan tells me that “The site contains some nice computerised versions of Our House and Benny Bullfrog, and soon it will include pictures from Madstock 3”.
This can only be good news for all Madness fans out there! I for one wish him luck!
Jordan’s web site can be accessed at:
Here’s a little snippet painstakingly typed in by the mailing list’s very own Christopher Byrne (suggs@dcs.qmw.ac.uk)
Hi everyone,
As promised, here is a *slightly* edited version of Suggs on Capital FM last week:
David Jenson: Tonight on London’s Showbiz No. 1 we go nutty with Suggs.
DJ: 95.8 Capital FM is very proud to bring you a live date from that north London nutty boy Suggs. You can see him at the Forum, Kentish Town on Saturday December 21st. And now on Drivetime Showtime the man himself. Suggs, hi!
Suggs: Hello there!
DJ: So this is a solo show is it?
S: It’s a solo show, it’s just me completely naked and some balloons
DJ: Hahaha. So have you done anything like this before?
S: No I haven’t, no, in fact I have done a few charity things this year, you know turning up at small venues to do a couple of acoustic numbers and that but I’ve never actually done a full blown show on my own no, ever.
DJ: Is this nerve racking?
S: Quite nerve racking it is quite nerve racking and because of that it is quite exciting too because it’s very easy sometimes to get very settled in what you feel comfortable doing and what I feel comfortable doing is nothing! Hahaha
DJ: Hahaha. Now the deal is your gonna be there, your gonna do the solo hits but the fans are gonna also wanna hear you sing Madness songs, what are you gonna do about that?
S: Well, I am gonna try not to for as long as possible
DJ: But you have gotta do it?
S: I dunno, yeah, I can’t really say at the moment, I’d prefer not to obviously, I love those songs firstly and also I understand the feeling from the people who come. I can understand them wanting to hear Madness songs obviously because who wants to hear a load of half baked Suggs solo B-sides. Hahahaha
DJ: Hahahaha
S: Which is what their getting, but you know I was in that band with six other people and I respect that they were part of those songs as well. So I am gonna avoid that as much as I can really
DJ: Alright, well you’ve got at least an album full of songs
S: I have haven’t I, I’ve got an album, I’ve got a half hour set so far, then a couple of cover versions. Then my mums coming on to do a couple and then it will just be dancing and juggling for the rest of the set.
DJ: You embarked on your solo career with your album and I’m Only Sleeping was a big hit single fot you and a surprise because there you were covering an old Beatles song.
S: Yeah, it was always one of my favourite songs so I thought this should be the first single, its got it all.
DJ: Now you first appeared on TV as an 18 year old in Madness
S: Indeed, and you were 17!
DJ: Hahahah. I introduced you on that show. You always seemed very confident about everything. Nothing phased you, was it provado or what?
S: I suppose it was a bit of provado but I think your right, whenever I reflect, which isn’t very often, it does occur to me how confident we were. I think that the fact was that because we were friends before the band, rather than musicians who met through music papers we didn’t have any preconceptions about the business, which is what makes you nervous, so it was just fun.
DJ: Are you guys still friends?
S: Absolutely, yeah, still friends, we don’t see as much of each other as we used to, to be perfectly honest, but then we used to see each other seven nights a week. I think my family would get a bit fed up of that.
DJ: Of all the hits then what is your favourite Madness memory?
S: I think It Must be Love is one of my favourite Madness ones even though it’s one of the ones we didn’t actually write. Because of the comeback thing it’s the last song of the set and we get a lot of very ordinary and intellectual people but we also get a lof of…aggressive people at Madness concerts. So it’s nice to see everyone singing It Must be Love together. It’s fuuny because one day Mike was mucking about on the piano playing this record and Dave Robinson came in, the head of our record company and he said if this doesn’t go to number one I’ll give you Stiff records. And it didn’t and he didn’t!
DJ: Hahaha, but it’s a good song?
S: Yeah, it’s a funny song, when you hear it its a bit plain but its got something, I dunno what it is
DJ: Suggs, thanks a lot
S: Thank you
Chris
Here are a list of postal addresses that may be able to provide all you Maddies out there with the Madness merchandise you’ve been after for so long.
The information has been supplied by Karen Lee, and she makes no claims that the information she has provided is still accurate:
Hi all,
Came across these addresses. They may or may not be still active.
For Madness Merchandise:
– send a SAE to Pie and Mash (re:Madness) at: P.O. Box 2220, London E9 7SN
Here’s a quickie from the list’s very own Paul Macintosh…
A quick announcement to one and all ! According to the new Radio Times, Suggs is one of the guests on “Never Mind The Buzzcocks”, on BBC2 next Tuesday at 10pm.
Should be a laugh !….
Bye !
Paul.
Well, for those of you who are still unable/can’t be bothered to connect to IRC and join in our Madness-related antics on a Sunday then you can catch up with what’s been going on over the past few weeks by pointing your browsers to…
And finally, here’s a nice little posting from the ever famous Karen Lee. (karenlee@aix.netcom.com)…
That’s your lot for this month. Hopefully there will be just as much news and gossip for me to bung into your mailboxes next month. But, until then,
Goodnight…
The Author
