We’ve begun recent issues of the the MIS with negative news, so it’s nice to start with something positive.
This coming Sunday sees a new festival take place, and it’s one you can all attend! How? Well, The Specialized Charity are hosting their “Iso Fest”, a new online music festival that takes place this coming Sunday and runs for a whopping 11 hours!
Nick Goowdin of The Silencerz will be appearing in the live streamed broadcast, which you can find out more about by reading our MIS Feature or by going to:
Back on the negative news for a moment, and this week we can report that the Festival Beauregard gig in Herouvile-Saint-Clair, France has also been cancelled. Cedric from the French MIS Team emailed in to tell us;
“I read the last MIS issue , you didn’t put the Festival Beauregard, Herouvile-Saint-Clair was cancelled.
Last week our president announced that all the festival are cancelled until mid July sure.
Perhaps after it will be possible. I don’t think so, I think all festivals will be cancelled but for the next issue you yet can write Beauregard is cancelled.
Stay safe”
If we hear that this gig is being rescheduled we will of course let you know.
We finish this week’s intro on a high note with the news that Rhoda Dakar has set up her own YouTube channel.
Here’s Rhoda with the details;
“Hello there!
For those of you who have already subscribed, thank you very much! If you haven’t, please just click on the link below. There’ll be no spam emails, offers of unknown prize winnings, letters from someone trying to access their inheritance in a far off land. Nothing. It just means one day I’ll get paid for my content.
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.
In Before We Was We Madness tell us how they became them. A story of seven originals, whose collective graft, energy and talent took them from the sweaty depths of the Hope and Anchor’s basement to the Top of the Pops studio.
In their own words they each look back on shared adventures. Playing music together, riding freight trains, spraying graffiti and stealing records. Walking in one another’s footsteps by day and rising up through the city’s exploding pub music scene by night.
Before We Was We is irreverent, funny and full of character. Just like them.
Record Store Day – Work Rest and Play ** revised date **
Release date: Moved to 20th June (was 18th April)
Format: Double 7″ single
Cat No. BMGCAT430DSV
Overview:
Fortieth anniversary re-issue of Madness’ “Work Rest & Play EP” – the follow-up to their debut album, 1979’s “One Step Beyond…”
Limited edition Record Store Day 2020 release on double 7” format with a triple gatefold sleeve including photos from the time of the original release.
Track listing:
Side One
Night Boat To Cairo
Side Two
Deceives The Eye
Side Three
The Young And The Old
Side Four
Don’t Quote Me On That
Record Store Day – Dance Craze 40th Anniversary Edition ** revised date **
This is a new half-speed master exclusively for RSD and part of the Two Tone Records 40th Anniversary celebrations. This is a soundtrack to the live movie of the same name featuring exclusive live recordings by The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, The Beat, Bad Manners and The Bodysnatchers. This is also first vinyl repress since its original release in 1981.
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago this week.
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number 833 – Sunday 26th April to Saturday 2nd May 2015
The TV adverts for the return of Sunday Night At The Palladium were now airing, so we began this issue reminding you that the recorded performance featuring Madness was scheduled to air in one week.
If you were unable to wait for more Madness on TV, BBC4’s reruns of Top of the Pops this week reached the first performance of Night Boat To Cairo.
Moving on, and our regular “Sign of the Times” was a packed section with links to Woody’s interview on Radio Essex, where he spoke to presenter Tracie Young. Woody talked about Madness and the Grandslam coming soon to Chelmsford along with discussions about his forthcoming solo album, In Your Mind.
Meanwhile, Carl appeared as a guest on BBC radio 4’s Loose Ends, talking with guests actor Christopher Eccleston, and Mary Wilson from The Supremes. Carl enthused about the talent on the show, and talked about the open process of writing his latest album.
Next, it was on to our “MIS Feature” which was sub-titled “The Ska Orchestra Record and Play Album Two”. The feature covered a gig which took place the previous Sunday afternoon at Camden’s Dublin Castle.
The gig had been advertised only on Facebook to the fans group, assuring a small audience of dedicated fans turning up for the Sunday afternoon, along with a few band guests.
The purpose of the gig was to air the new second album live as a try out. Made up of songs written by the band and new selected covers, a mixture of instrumentals and vocal tracks all in the ska mode, the familiar sound of the band now with extra guitars.
For a tenner entry, a packed out Dublin Castle backroom received plenty of cheers and a great atmosphere for the new tracks and gave the band more confidence in the material.
Following the triumphant gig of new material the band headed into London Studios in the week following and laid down the tracks over three days of sessions, before Lee headed to Brighton to get the results so far mixed.
Further down into the issue we got to “Tweets of a Dove”. This section was devoted to a lengthy submission Carl posted to Facebook. In it he discussed three new songs he’d be performing at Bush Hall on the 14th May. Of more interest was where Carl discussed him leaving the band;
“Many of you have expressed the desire for my return to Madness. I suppose the Magnificent 7 has a better ring to it than The Magnificent 6. I’m very proud of what we all achieved with the band and I am grateful for what it has brought to my days. I’m proud that I reformed the band in 1992. It was a personal triumph seeing all the happy faces leaving after Madstock in Finsbury Park. I sat outside the gates to the park after the shows and watched everyone and the feeling was something else.
I love the live performance and have always felt the connection at the live shows and more than anything that brought me the most joy and satisfaction. We are seven unique individuals and together I think we create something really magical. I know we hold a special place in many people’s hearts and minds and I treasure, along with the others that amazing commitment and relationship.
Who knows what the future will bring in this life? For the moment I needed a break and the band thought so too and that’s cool.
My dream is I do return and we make the best album we have ever made. Give time, time is a saying I hold to and if its meant to be then it shall be so.
I feel Madness has so much to offer and in the big scheme of things I believe in the power of song for music is the food of love.”
We brought this issue to a close by reminding you that Suggs’ Sunday morning appearance on “Sunday Brunch” could now be streamed via the Channel 4 app if you’d missed it.
10 years ago…
Issue Number 573 – Sunday 25th April – Saturday 1st May 2010
Who would have thought that a major clothing manufacturer would have decided to base an entire product range on our favourite band?
Well, that’s just what the team at Ben Sherman had done, and later in the year the company were due to release a range of products based around the imagery and style of our favourite band.
The Ben Sherman brand had always had a distinctly British feel, and we felt that this teaming up with Madness would not only continue that trend, but give us fans some fantastic items of clothing to add to our wardrobes.
Those worried about the cost could stop panicking. With the clothing due to see the light of day until late July, you had time to start saving.
On to our articles, and we got things off the starting blocks with the news that a group of individuals were looking to create a 2-Tone museum, a café and a live venue in the city of Coventry. Entitled “2-Tone Central”, the organisers were looking for sponsors and donations to help get the project off the ground. In return you would be rewarded on the 2-Tone Central wall of honour.
Elsewhere, and although the 2010 event had been and gone, for those of you who had yet to donate Woody was still accepting donations for his recent London marathon attempt.
Moving on, and Madness Central’s “In Print” section was the largest and most complete collection of magazine and press articles relating to the band, spanning a whopping thirty plus years.
In an effort to promote this ever growing archive, a Facebook group had recently been set up to spread the word of this historical collection of Madness news articles and interviews, and we urged you to sign up and help out.
We brought this issue to a close with the news that The New York Observer were less than impressed with latest Ian Dury biopic, as the review of theirs we linked to recommended you “Avoid at all costs”. Harsh!
15 years ago…
Issue number 311 – Sunday 24th April to Saturday 30th April 2005
After the mammoth issue we had last week, this MIS was back down to a more regular size, as things had been on the sedate side somewhat.
News in from Richard over at RememberTheEighties.com was that THE SPECIALS’ former frontman TERRY HALL had been added to the bill for the forthcoming ‘Bestival’ on the Isle Of Wight. Hall would play a DJ set as part of the event which was due to take place from September 9th to 11th.
North London based outfit MOT had two forthcoming dates. First up was Saturday 28th May where the band were booked to play a 50 minute set at the legendary Hope and Anchor, Upper Street, London, N1.
Tickets cost a mere £4, and the band would be on stage from 9pm.
The band were also booked for one of their longest slots to date, at The Tenth South Cotswold Beer Festival, on Saturday 9th July, where they were due to be on stage for approximately 2 hours.
On to film news now, and it seemed that the forthcoming soundtrack album to `The Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy` movie featured a Dury inspired track. Voiced by Stephen Fry, and entitled “Reasons to be Miserable (Marvin is his name)”, we were sure there was some connection.
On to this week’s collections of articles, and we started off with a lengthy and detailed review of a recent Los Palmas 6 gig at Corringham, Essex. Written by Cheryl, she gave the band a rave review, and finished by saying that “If you get the chance to see LP7 play, then please do. You won’t be disappointed!”
Following the news last week that Mike Edwards of Orange St made it all the way home in the London Marathon, he had been in touch with a short message. We had asked him “Are you home safe with sore feet?” and he replied, telling us that he was fine, but had sore knees.
Would he do it again? “If I can get a place and get in the 12-14 weeks training required, I only managed to get in 6 weeks for this one”.
With the chance of seeing the band perform live on their Forest Tour still some way off, we decided to see what a number of well known Madness tributes had planned for the next month or so, and so we listed forthcoming gigs for One Step Behind, Ultimate Madness, One Step Below and Badness.
20 years ago…
Issue number 49 – Sunday 23rd April to Saturday 29th April 2000
It was yet another quiet week in the Madness community and again, news was a little on the thin side. Where were you all? Wake up!!
Still, the Madness scene hadn’t totally died as we’d managed to round-up the majority of the week’s gossip for you all to digest.
Following last week’s release of the excellent Madness fanzine, `Nut Inc`, Stuart Wright, the editor reported that all those people still waiting for their copy can stop panicking. The issues were dispatched in batches and the final batch was due to be sent out this coming week.
Other Nut Inc news was that Stuart has been attempting to get up to speed on this whole PC malarky by borrowing his 12 year-old nephew’s computer a couple of nights a week. Stuart was using this time to type up masses of material for the next edition of the fanzine. We recently spoke to Stuart who told us that `The next edition of Nut Inc was almost ready to go to the printers. It would be an Ian Dury tribute edition and should be released in the next 3 – 4 weeks”.
Obviously, as soon as Nut Inc 16 is released, we’d be reviewing it here.
Birthday news now, and on Thursday a certain Michael Barson celebrated his 42nd birthday.
For most of us, the long Easter weekend was the first break we’d had since Christmas, and some people were determined to make the most of it. This weekend saw the second Mc Madmeet, a two day affair, starting on Good Friday and going on till the Saturday. We thought the Sunday was being used for recovery purposes!
Moving on to the articles in this week’s edition of the MIS now and as usual, we had another issue packed to the brim with the latest Madness news and information.
We had the latest promotional news for the forthcoming Madness book by Adrian Thrills, entitled `Don’t Watch That, Watch This!”. Not due out until November, we gave you the opportunity to see just what the book would contain as well as a transcription of the blurb from the book sleeve!
Further on and Steve Turner from the Madness tribute band was here with the latest band happenings and telling us that they may have to change their name to `Los Palmas 7`. If you were after a live slice of Madness, then this was for you!
Elsewhere, and we had some brief news of an Ian Dury gig to be held in New York City in May. Obviously this was exciting news for our Stateside Madness and Ian Dury fans.
With the release of Nut Inc 15 last week, editor in-chief, Stuart Wright had kindly given permission for us to transcribe one of the many excellent articles for your reading-pleasure. Here you could find out just what happened to the legendary Madness TV show.
A great deal of you were probably glued to the last show in the series of `This is Your Life` earlier in the week with the famous Suggs getting his grips on that red book. For those of you who missed the show, you could still get a taste of what went on by visiting Simon Roberts’ website and downloading the first 4 minutes of the show or by rummaging through the many pictures he’d grabbed from the 30 minute programme.
If that wasn’t enough, Jenny Payne and Peter Gardner brought us news that Mark Bedford was busy putting together the cover for the new Dr. Martens album featuring amongst many artists – Madness!
And finally, Nahuel Foppoli returned with a review of a new Madness bootleg video that contained over 3 hours worth of footage!
Rob Hazelby
MIS Feature
Specialized Iso Fest 2020
Musicians playing live from their homes direct to yours.
As the Corvid-19 virus leads to gig cancellations across the country – including many The Specialized Project gigs.
As Corvid-19 continues to wreak havoc throughout the world the issues we support continue as before. Worryingly there is clear evidence that the need to focus on the virus detracts services from other areas of need such as Cancer care. Also, the reduced access to hospital care will lead to an increase in deaths from other treatable medical conditions.
Mental health is a primary concern of what we do. The mental health impact of coronavirus will be huge and the effects of lockdown and of Covid-19 itself could be deep and long-term.
The Specialized Iso Fest 2020 is a virtual festival with a simple aim – To raise money for the charities that we support. We’ve assembled a stellar line up of what would likely be a pricy ticket and it’s all happening online for free. Donations can be made at our JustGiving Page
We’ll be streaming the event directly from our Facebook page. On the 3rd of May you can follow the events of the page and hear (and watch) some great music from a list of performers will be made available soon but they’ll also be footage from our archives including a chance to seethe Beat in concert at the Big One 2 and Susan Cadogan from the Big One 7 and lots more.
If you can afford to donate some money, even just a little, you can help us to support The Teenage Cancer Trust, The Youth Music Foundation and Tonic music for mental health. That’s all the better, but the event is free to view.
We’re just about ready to bring this week’s edition of the MIS to a close but before we do we have a last minute snippet from subscriber Rob Kassimier, who may have news that will interest some of you.
“I don’t know if you already knew that the album The Dangermen Sessions is back on ITunes, Spotify and Amazon Music. Under license of Union Square music.
On the Dutch iTunes [store] you can buy and download it for €4,99”.
We’ve checked the UK store and you can also buy it on there for £4.99.
This could be a cheap way to add the album to your collection if you don’t already have it.
