This week we were pleased to learn that The Silencerz had been busy behind the scenes, putting together their first ever email newsletter.
Issue one has just landed, and if you missed it there’s no need to panic as we’ve re-printed it for you elsewhere in this very issue. We won’t be doing this for all their forthcoming newsletters, so make sure you follow the sign-up instructions and add your name to their distribution list.
We also have a correction to report. In last week’s issue we incorrectly stated that Suggs would be performing at both The Pleasance Theatre and Severn Theatre on the 15th of October. This was a mistake. Suggs will be performing at The Pleasance Theatre on the 14th and The Severn Theatre on the 15th. Apologies for any confusion.
Elsewhere in this very issue we have news of the Launchers album Launch, which takes place at The Dublin Castle this coming Sunday. The MIS’ very own Jonathan Young has worked hard to help pull this event together, and it promises to be a cracking night. Gig and ticket details are in the article. Check it out further down in the bulletin.
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.
Available only for the next couple of weeks. These official Madness T-shirt’s feature lyrics from the Magnum Opus song The Liberty of Norton Folgate. They will be shipped on July 20th, available only for this limited time period.
Available in 3 sizes, the profit is going to the Music Venture Trust.
Lee Thompson’s One Man’s Madness DVD & CD Soundtrack
Lee ‘Kix’ Thompson is a most unlikely character. Early career choices had him spend a year in Borstal. He still hasn’t found the receipt for his first saxophone. Luckily, he met two other unlikely characters: Mike ‘Barso’ Barson and ‘Chrissy Boy’ Foreman, who shared his interests of graffiti, train hopping and music.
One Man’s Madness, a feature length rocku-docu-mockumentary directed by Jeff Baynes, tells the story of Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson, told by Lee and his fellow Madness band mates, his family, friends and musicologists, who strangely all look a little like him! From meeting Barso and Chrissy Boy, and later Suggs, Chas, Woody and Bedders, to becoming one of Britain’s most iconic and successful bands, this joyous and light-hearted film follows the path of Lee’s life through his lyrics and songs, including such Madness classics as The Prince, Embarrassment, House Of Fun, Lovestruck and NW5.
Two CD set. Original soundtrack to the 2018 documentary about Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson. Includes tracks from Madness, Crunch, ‘Thommosina Leigh’, Ian Dury, and the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra. Including Hidden Tracks. New Mad store T-shirts & Madshorts
Further New T-shirts are now in stock for the summer. Including Madness Shorts as this hot weather continues to encourage getting your legs out. The recent Stately Holmes tour T-shirt is now in stock on line. A rather fetching Lady Killers poster of the old Ealing comedy about a gang of roguish bank robbers, re done with Madness heads taken from old shut up artwork and repurposed nicely in this fitting parody. A fetching Morris Minor car picture harking back to Driving in My Car video and the Mad 7 number plate, with the paraphrase lyrics from Muswell Hill to Selsey Bill! Check out the Madstore now.
Danceable and delightful, this debut album of the band’s much loved original songs pushes on through, breaking the mould of standard ska cover band. Catchy tunes and powerful brass and rhythm section make this a must-listen. Featuring Lee Thompson.
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: 745 – Sunday 18th August to Saturday 24th August 2013
This week we brought you news that Carl had announced the title of his forthcoming solo album. Due for release at some point in 2014, the album, entitled “A Comfortable Man”, would be, so we were told, filled with his own personal compositions.
Carl also appeared in the gigs listing this week, as he was booked to appear at the Number 6 Festival, Portmeirion, where he’d be airing his solo songs for the very first time in public.
In this issue we welcomed back our old friend Paul Rodgers, for another one of his Madness Stats, Facts and Figures articles. The big news was that Complete Madness had re-entered the album charts at number 167, and had now been in the top 200 for a total of 192 weeks since it was originally released back in the 1980s!
Our regular Live and Intensified section was a packed one, with Jonathan Young reviewing the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra gig at the Sheffield United Colours Festival followed by a French to English review of the band at the Belgium Jazz Festival.
Of the Sheffield gig, Jonathan commented;
“Sadly it was the most disappointing set of the year for the band, not because of how they played, or their mood, (indeed with a little sunshine and a field of people looking on, Lee remarked “It doesn’t get better than this”) but for stage time and technical problems it was an under delivered experience.”
In our Tweets of a Dove section we featured length responses from Suggs and Chris. Chris responded to a fan who was trying to find out more about a photo taken of Carl. Sadly, after some research, Chris discovered that the photographer who’d taken it had passed away the year before.
We brought this issue to a close with a reminder that if you’d not already entered, time was running out for you to enter the competition to win 52 bottles of Gladness ale.
10 years ago…
Issue 485 – Sunday 17th August to Saturday 23rd August 2008
It’d been a long time coming, but we received the news revealing that last month the US had finally received an official re-release of the legendary One Step Beyond album.
US-based Rhino.com were certainly pleased with the news, and had put together a rather nice press-piece to commemorate the re-release. Not surprising really, as they were the ones (Rhino Encore) who’d re-issued it.
On to podcast news next, and somewhere between the feel of a Louis Theroux documentary on Madness obsessives and one of Michael Palin’s constant travel shows, we brought you ‘euSKAra in Bilbao’ our 2nd MIS Podcast.
Following our epic 3 part Hackney podcast, in which we packed over 30 fans and some band members to cover that amazing event, we kind of got into the idea of Podcasts, and this latest production was now available for download from the MIS web site.
Moving on, and last week we reported on the Sandown Racecourse gig, and how Mike’s late arrived generated a real mix of reactions from those who attended.
This week, courtesy of Dan Fossard, we had the full track listing (taken directly from the pinched set list).
Madness Sandown Races Set List….
1. PIG BAG
ONE STEP BEYOND (not listed on the set list!)
2. EMBARRASSMENT
3. BAGGY TROUSERS (great to hear this so early in the set!)
4. MY GIRL (they managed to pull this off even with no Barso!)
5. TALLER THAN YOU ARE
6. FOREVER YOUNG
7. HOUSE OF FUN (see No.3)
8. IRON SHIRT
9. MADNESS
10. THE PRINCE
BARZO APPEARS! :O)
11. NW5 (what an entrance!!!)
12. THE SUN AND THE RAIN
13. GREY DAY
14. SHUT UP
15. BED AND BREAKFAST MAN
16. OUR HOUSE
17. IT MUST BE LOVE
18. MADNESS (again!!!!) woohoo!!! twice!!!!!!!!
19. NIGHT BOAT TO CAIRO
Dan was also certain that as well as two plays of Madness another song was also performed twice, but he couldn’t remember which one it was.
Pub news next, and from an unknown newspaper source we discovered that a gathering of Madness fans had managed to drink a pub dry.
Landlord Ray Dean, 40, said: “They drank us totally out of beer. There is nothing in the cellar. It is a void. We’ve been ringing our suppliers, but they say they can’t get to us until today, which doesn’t help.”
After a bit of research, and an email from Steve Turner, we discovered that it was a group of Madness fans who’d drunk the pub dry, and the band responsible for this was non other than Madness tribute, The Los Palmas 6.
“Los Palmas 6 strike again !!!”, responded Steve.
We brought this issue of the MIS to a sad close with the news that on Saturday 16th August Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium closed its doors after 75 years of greyhound racing.
The family who had built the stadium in the 1930s with its iconic neon-lit art deco frontage had finally been forced to sell up to housing developers, blaming falling profits. Many argued though that it still had huge attendance levels, even on quieter nights, and wondered if the £31million they were offered was just too tempting to refuse!
More memorably associated with Blur’s Parklife single and album than with Madness, the stadium did still have a couple of very important Madness connections. It was here that Ian Dury made one of his final public appearances hosting a VIP dinner and auction in aid of Cancer Backup. Madness provided not only the live entertainment for the night, but also fully entered into the spirit of things helping to bid up the auction takings. It was from this night that the fabled ‘Drip Fed Fred – Live at Walthamstow Dogs’ 1 track promo CD emerged and it was also on this night that Madness ended up winning an auction for a greyhound pup to be trained for racing at the stadium. ‘Nutty Boy’ as he was appropriately named went on to win a number of races.
15 years ago…
Issue 223 – Sunday 17th August to Saturday 23rd August 2003
We started off the issue with a brief announcement that the day prior to the MIS going out saw the final performance of the ‘Our House’ musical run.
Reminiscing of the time when the idea of a show was first announced, we (like many, no doubt) were initially worried about the reputation of our beloved band, and how this sort of production could potentially damage the band.
Thankfully, the majority seemed to feel that the show had been put together and staged beautifully, providing many Madness fans with a theatre visit they’d never forget.
Who would have thought that half a decade on, the show would not only be up and running, but would be touring the country.
This short, but exciting snippet from Carl rounded off this week’s intro;
“We are at the moment demoing an album of covers and who knows if all goes well then all will be up for a new album of originals……….still a lot to do at the moment………..what with the tour at Christmas and the challenge of making this years bash a bit more interesting………”
We don’t know how he did it, but Chris Mountain managed to get the forthcoming Madness weekender into the Shropshire Star newspaper. Sure, we’ll be the first to admit that it’s hardly on a national scale, but the report was fairly sizeable and at the same time, detailed.
Perhaps we’ll never know if the article helped pull in a few more punters, but one thing is for sure, it certainly gave the online Madness fanbase a rather nice plug indeed.
Other news this issue included a brief review of a previously unheard of Madness tribute act, ‘Completely Mad’, courtesy of subscriber Juliet Bulmer. Juliet gave them a big thumbs up, and came away having had an excellent time.
If anyone knows if this band is still doing the rounds or not, please email us to let us know!
Finally, we rounded of this week’s issue with a brief heads-up to let everyone know that the official One Step Behind web site had now moved over to the new MIS Online web server.
Rob Hazelby
MIS Feature
The Silencerz Newsletter Launches!
Issue one of the Silencerz newsletter has just been blasted out across the internet.
If you’d like to sign up and receive future issues then point your web browsers over to https://www.musicglue.com/the-silencerz/ and once there enter your email address.
We don’t plan to post future Silencerz newsletters on a regular basis, but if you’ve missed this first issue, here it is;
Welcome to the first ever Silencerz newsletter!
So what’s been happening in the Silencerz camp and what have we got coming up?
We’re pleased to announce we’ll playing at an absolute stonker of a Christmas party on Saturday 22nd Of December at The Dublin Castle, Camden. Tickets are on sale now and as you’re signed up to our mailing list, you can click here for access to discounted earlybird tickets, just use the code DONLOGAN. Be quick though, this discount code is only available for the next few weeks.
You may have heard that we’ve been asked to play at the House of Fun Weekender at the end of November in Minehead. Alongside great acts like Madness, Geno Washington, David Rodigan and Denis Bovell – this one will definitely be one to remember! Tickets available here
We’re also set to return to The Bull Theatre in High Barnet on Saturday 20th October – check out the theatre’s website here for more information soon!
Big thank you to everyone who’s bought our album Better Days. We’ve been really blown away by some of the feedback we’ve received and are so glad it’s gone down so well.
That’s all for now, hope you all enjoy the rest of the Summer.
You can hear the debut album by the band played in full preview at this gig.
As well as a guest spot with T’Amor.
The band will have some developing news about where and when and how the album will be released, later this year.
Up to the minute exciting twists have been taking place as this issue of MIS was being made to be released.
To find out that information, we will see you at the gig.
Harry Wandsworth is DJ, Dave n Dave (with added Phil Toogood) will be covering some Madness album tracks for us as support band celebrating MIS1000, and we have a raffle to prize some of Mr Thompson’s T-shirt stash.
Love The Launchers & MIS.
Time
That’s almost it for this week’s edition of the MIS bulletin.
If you manage to get along to the Launchers album launch event at The Dublin Castle next Sunday then please, send us a review and we’ll make sure it appears in a subsequent issue.
