1 – THIS IS WHERE THE MADNESS BEGINS – The obligatory intro.

2 – THE NUTTY CHARRRGGGEEEEEE!!!!! – Attention troops. It’s the first
date of The Mad Brigade Tour at Butlins. Let’s start the band’s
biggest ever UK charge around the country in style, by filming a
suitably Nutty salute for our brave maddy boys who are off to
front the gigs. We need you to join the ranks at The House of Fun
Weekender for the Nutty Chhhhhhharrrrrrgggggggeeeeee!!!!!

3 – MIS & KOAST TRAIN PRESENT: HOUSE OF FUN – HAPPY RETURNS-FAN FILM
The makers of Miswas are back, with many Happy Returns to The
House of Fun. A magic postcard from Madness starts a cinema
celebration birthday party to honour 30 years of the band’s
number one hit. Come join a scenic roller Koast Train ride to the
Top of the Pop charts 1982 and far beyond. Jonathan Young and
Garry Scurfield are here with the background detail.

4 – THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS – This week MIS co-editor, Rob Hazelby
goes back 5 years to issue number 446, and the week of Sunday 18th
November to Saturday 24th November 2007, and then back 10 years
to issue number 184 and the week of Sunday 17th November to
Saturday 23rd November 2002.

5 – BUTLINS MESSAGE. WEEKENDER DRESS CODE – With less than two weeks
until the sold out Madness House of Fun Weekender, we’re delighted
to announce that the Madness boys have officially made Saturday
night ‘Circus Freaks’ night, with fancy dress the order of the
day. From the Butlins email list.

6 – GIVE MADNESS A F**KING BRIT! – After their new album ‘Oui Oui Si
Si Ja Ja Da Da‘ made the UK Top 10 upon its release earlier this
month, Madness frontman Suggs has told the Daily Star tabloid he
feels it is now time for the group to win an overdue Brit Award.
From Daily Star/Live4Ever.uk

7 – NEW ALBUM WILL BRING JOY – The band’s frontman thinks their newly
released record ‘Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da’ reflects their aim to
represent the “good things” in life and hopes to encourage people
to say yes more. From Females First

8 – BACK AT OUR HOUSE – THE REUNION CONCERT REVIEWS – Having returned
from watching the Our House Musical reunion show, Mark Bowen and
Sharon Staite have been kind enough to let us know what they
thought.

9 – SKY BACKSTAGE AT THE 02 LONDON GIGS – If you’re a customer of Sky
television you can get a pass to get in quicker to the O2 gigs. My
Sky is an online service from the company and you can register
online to book access for free to a back of stage located Bar with
perks. (Note this does not mean backstage in terms of band
dressing rooms area. The Sky bar is an early access point
physically located behind the O2 arena’s actual stage)

10 – SUGGS: ‘I LOVE GOOD FOOD – AND A PROPER GREASY SPOON – The
Madness singer on royal canapés, being a butcher’s boy and
scoffing strawberries as a kid. Taken from The Guardian and
passed in our direction by Fiona Linnel.

11 – MUSIC FEATURE – SUGGS FROM MADNESS – Ahead of their Dublin date
at the 02 on Wednesday November 28, Madness frontman Suggs talks
to Harry Guerin about the band’s new album, Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja
Da Da, memories and growing old very gracefully. From www.rte.ie
Interviewer: Harry Guerin

12 – MADNESS WEB SHOOTER COMING SOON – Earlier this week we were
contacted by Union Square Music’s Holly Barringer, who gave us
the heads-up on a new arcade shoot-em-up featuring Madness.

13 – THAT’S YER LOT – A few last minute bits and pieces to pass in
your general direction before we finish for the week.

[1] – THIS IS WHERE THE MADNESS BEGINS

For those of you booked-in to next weekend’s Madness Weekender at Butlins Minhead, your waiting is almost over, and three days of partying can commence.

Madness are due to play a new album set on the Friday night, and a more general tour set on the Saturday Night. They were rumoured to be performing on the Sunday, but this is not happening. You get two of their gigs that weekend, what more do you want?!

Well, if you DO want more you may be interested to learn that Lee Thompson’s legendary Ska Orchestra will be playing the Main stage at 2pm on the Sunday.

The Ska Orchestra debut EP will be available for purchase at the gig and a short trailer for the release can be found here:

http://youtu.be/uEqSfIKVYX4

And finally, before we let you dive into the articles, we’ve got a small snippet in from the French MIS team, who met the band in France earlier this week.

Apparently, the track “My Obsession”, is due to appear on the Deluxe Box set planned for release some time next year.

Now, enough of the rumours. On with the issue.

Enjoy the read!

Jonathan Young, Liz Maher, Simon Roberts, Rob Hazelby
Email us at: jonathan, liz, simon, robert @mis-online.net

[2] – THE NUTTY CHARRRGGGEEEEEE!!!!!

Attention troops. It’s the first date of The Mad Brigade Tour at Butlins. Let’s start the band’s biggest ever UK charge around the country in style, by filming a suitably Nutty salute for our brave maddy boys who are off to front the gigs. We need you to join the ranks at The House of Fun Weekender for the Nutty Chhhhhhharrrrrrgggggggeeeeee!!!!!

“I love the sound of LosPalm… in the morning. Sounds
like Victory.”

Andy McMad bravo zero

http://www.facebook.com/!!/events/50693131730653//?fref=ts< 165 troops have gathered to the barmy army on facebook, on this page where any changes to the mission would be posted at the weekend, but there is still time to join in. Now, get yourself a weapon and come join us on the day. We want you to bring, your weapon of choice. Plastic swords, inflatable hammers, (blow up caveman clubs- are you reading Mandy?) toy guns, water pistols, album covers, Frisbees, papier-mache machettes. Anything you want to wave above your head as you run towards the battle line. But of course any real weapons are out!!! Please don't jeopardise the event with anything truly harmful, or Butlins will throw you out!! Mission HQ: Top of the field next to Blue skies apartments. 14:00 Assemble troops behind yellow hazard tape Line. 14:00 Boot camp. (We'll see whose got the best DM's on) 14:00 Special fans weapons inspection and display. 14:00 Victoria gardens cross of courage medal award ceremony 14:29 stirring speech from Clansman Madheart. 14.30 (Then the yellow tape will be removed.) Charggggge!!!!! Massed Mad ranks Charge towards our cameras shouting "Madddddnessss!!" 14:31 The inevitable skirmish. (Feel free now to attack each other politely but camera people are off limits. Please don't damage them. It's health and safety!) "Run today and you may look daft, but suffering a JLS re-union, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as Madmen and tell our boybands that they may take our chart positions, they may take our Brit Awards, but.... THEY WILL NEVER TAKE OUR FANDOM....... CCHHHAAAARRRRRGGGGGGEEEEEE !!!!!!!!!!" Rob "Roy" Wardlaw aka MadHeart This mission was brought to you by the MISAS [3] - MIS & KOAST TRAIN PRESENT: HOUSE OF FUN - HAPPY RETURNS-FAN FILM The makers of Miswas are back, with many Happy Returns to The House of Fun. A magic postcard from Madness starts a cinema celebration birthday party to honour 30 years of the band's number one hit. Come join a scenic roller Koast Train ride to the Top of the Pop charts 1982 and far beyond. Packed with rare Mad clips, fan film foolery, nuts, rubbers, ants, nuns, tricks, eurovision and an ok postman. It's lots of Fun. And this year you can join the Magic of our film, all cinema attendees ride with us onto YouTube. http://tinyurl.com/asxbznj This year marked 30 years since Madness' golden moment at Number 1 in the single, album and video chart. They are still going strong and now in 2012 House of Fun is a weekender. Time for a Fun Fantasy Fan Film for Minehead, as a magic weekender postcard causes DJ Mr Scurf of The Koast Train radio show to look back and celebrate the House of Fun song live to the future weekender audience. We've a new cover version theme by acclaimed band Indeed, noted for their previous Tribute album cover. It's a whistle waltz version we want you to sing a long to, so we've added the words on screen. We've a rare clip of the band in the setting of one of the locations from the legendary video, as well as a 30 year montage. Ever seen Lee Thompson dressed as a Nun before? We give some commentary to the original film that inspired the song. We take a dream ride back to Top of the Pops Chart battle for Number 1 in the middle of 1982. And Trev our Newsreader, first seen in MISWAS, is back to perform an important educational lesson. We need a little more magic though. And that's YOU. The Weekender Audience. You will be filmed, especially for the final thrill ride scene, and added to the final film version coming to MISTV1 on youtube in December. Join in the fun. Be the first to arrive for the party. 12:00 Midday, Minehead cinema. Jonathan Young/Garry Scurfield. [4] - THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS This week MIS co-editor, Rob Hazelby goes back 5 years to issue number 446, and the week of Sunday 18th November to Saturday 24th November 2007, and then back 10 years to issue number 184 and the week of Sunday 17th November to Saturday 23rd November 2002. 5 years ago... Issue 446 - Sunday 18th November - Saturday 24th November 2007 This week our quarter of a century Our House lookback took us back to the sadly short-lived musical, live and mimed performances of the song down the years, and details of how the song was starting to crop up in various forms on video sharing web site YouTube. We also took a look at some of the products Our House had been used by advertising agencies to help promote their products, and how, in 25 years, not a single mainstream band had covered the track. If that wasn't enough we revealed just a little of what went on during the filming of the video, and how a small terraced house, built in 1889 was now fetching a small fortune on the housing market. 10 years ago... Issue 184 - Sunday 17th November - Saturday 23rd November 2002 Following a number of extremely packed issues (due mostly to the coverage the 'Our House' was receiving at the time), this week seemed to be a fair bit slimmer than those of recent weeks. The MIS team had been keeping themselves busy moving the MIS web site over to the new web space, and remarkably, things seemed to have gone smoothly, with the site now up and running from its new location. Channel Four were once again running another one of their overly long '100 Greatest...' programmes this week, and whilst Madness failed to get any of their back catalogue in the list, Carl and Suggs were guests, commenting on a number of tracks in the top 100. With news a little thin on the ground this week we decided to rummage through the Madness bible that is 'Tour Madness', and look back to November 1985, where the band were well underway with their 'Mad Not Mad' tour. Christmas was only just around the corner, so to celebrate the fact the Chas Smash web site announced that they'd soon be uploading a rather special Christmas calendar, to help count down to the big day. Debate also cropped-up on the MIS this week with a certain Vince Foley ranting about Madness' recent performance on the BBC's Children in Need' show, claiming that it was the worst televised performance of Madness he had ever seen. Long time subscriber, Andrew Langmead was quick to look at the event from the opposite perspective, claiming that whilst it wasn't live, it was a three minute slot at five to one in the morning, and surely any Madness is better than no Madness. We have a feeling Vince remained unconvinced on this one. The issue finished off with a last minute email from Wee Stoo, reminding those attending the Glasgow concert on the 15th that a MacMadmeet would be taking place before and after the event. Rob Hazelby [5] - BUTLINS MESSAGE. WEEKENDER DRESS CODE With less than two weeks until the sold out Madness House of Fun Weekender, we're delighted to announce that the Madness boys have officially made Saturday night 'Circus Freaks' night, with fancy dress the order of the day. So whether you fancy being a dog faced man or a four legged lady, dress up in your freakiest outfit as we'll be holding a best dressed competition judged by the boys themselves during their headline set - so make sure you get noticed! There are prizes too! If one night of dressing up isn't enough for you, on Sunday we're hosting a Baggy Trousers party. There will be a whole evening of fun and games like Madness Musical Bingo, Pimp My Trousers and more! So remember to bring your own Baggy Trousers!!! From Butlins mail [6] - GIVE MADNESS A F**KING BRIT! After their new album ‘Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da‘ made the UK Top 10 upon its release earlier this month, Madness frontman Suggs has told the Daily Star tabloid he feels it is now time for the group to win an overdue Brit Award. “The Brits are meant to be about achievement,” he is quoted as saying. “Well, if we haven’t already achieved enough to win one, I don’t know what else we can do. We did a show with Sting recently and I thought, ‘Well, if he’s got an Outstanding Contribution…’.” When the Brits first became an annual event in 1982, John Lennon was posthumously honoured with the Outstanding Contribution award. Since then, the likes of Oasis, Sir Paul McCartney, The Who, Queen and David Bowie have all been recognised. Meanwhile, Suggs also commented on his recent solo touring, and admitted he found the experience of being up on stage alone ‘weird’. “Ray Davies said his first solo gig was the first time he’d been on stage without having a fight, and it was the same for me,” he remarked. “But it was weird being up there on my own. I’ve spent virtually all my working life surrounded by six lunatics.” Daily Star/Live4Ever.uk [7] - NEW ALBUM WILL BRING JOY The band's frontman thinks their newly released record 'Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da' reflects their aim to represent the "good things" in life and hopes to encourage people to say yes more. Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, Suggs explained: "Most of our albums are an affirmation of life - the good things in life. Right now things can seem depressing and morose so we are just saying, 'Yes, yes, yes, yes', rather than, 'No, no, no, no', like everyone else. "We realise things aren't easy but we hope to bring joy to people's lives." The group are known for their classic hits such as 'Our House' and 'Baggy Trousers' but for the first time in their career they worked with new producers to create their 10th studio album. However, Suggs, 51, insisted the new creative input didn't affect their overall sound and they kept an open mind, adding: "There are seven of us so when we get in the studios it always sounds like us. "We are working with people we have never worked with before. We are trying to capture the sound of what we sound like live. "Everyone in the band writes songs so you always get an eclectic mix. We were trying to make an album of great songs. There was no concept behind it." Madness' new album 'Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da', featuring their new single 'My Girl 2', is out now. Females First [8] - BACK AT OUR HOUSE - THE REUNION CONCERT REVIEWS What a great night tonight was if you were a fan of Madness or Our The House the Musical. It returned for the first time in 3 years minus Steve Brookstein thankfully & in his place was Suggs as Joe's Dad. Most of the cast were from the 2008/9 Nationwide Tour including the two actors playing Joe & Sarah although Michael Jibson & the original Sarah actress who's name escapes me came on at the end to great applause. The show stuck to the 2008/9 formula & there was no return for songs such as Sarah's Song or White Heat. There were a few original members of cast in the show including the actress from Eastenders & the original actor who played Reece. Suggs did well in his role & managed to remember his words unlike on Jools Holland last month. It was a pleasure to finally hear him sing Simple Equation live and nice to see him sing One Better Day again. He came on at the end of the show after everyone else had took their bow and sang It Must Be Love backed by the musical band and joined by Lee Thompson who showed off his sax skills on his beloved sax which he'd just been reunited with. A cast of celebrity's including Stephen Fry were present to watch the show & it lasted just over 2 hours. The car from the original was sadly nowhere to be seen. A brilliant night & a brilliant speech by the Director Warchus at the end who told the audience he didn't like reunions but there was nothing you couldn't dislike in this reunion. It was a shame about the minimal set but I still give the show 4 out of 5 stars. Mark Bowen Had a great night seeing Our House again, I saw it three times on its original run each time when Suggs took the role of Dad. I wasn’t too sure what to expect as the cast barely had time to rehearse (10 days!) plus the set was pretty minimalistic compared to the original shows, but once the show started I hardly noticed as I found I was just caught up in the story again. The whole cast were great especially Chris Carswell (Joe Casey) how he managed to change costumes so quickly I’ll never know. I also loved Tameka Empson (Billie) who also plays Kim in Eastenders, she was brilliant in her revised role and made the audience laugh out loud on more than one occasion. Alistair McGowan was great as Mr Pressman too, with just the right amount of evil arrogance. Suggs played his role well, considering all he has been doing lately with Madness promoting the new album, I doubt he had much time for rehearsals but he was word perfect (or at least it wasn’t obvious anyway!) ... Loved hearing Simple Equation and One Better Day again live. A nice new addition was Miria Parvin (Sarah) singing NW5, I had to stop myself waving my arms in the air during the ‘I would give you everything’ bit... though I couldn’t stop myself shouting out ‘especially the birds’ during It Must Be Love... I’ve been to far too many gigs! One of the highlights of the night was Thommo coming on at the end of the song to do his sax solo, he then pointed to the Dress Circle, imitated a guitar move and got suitable heckled by Chrissy Boy much to the amusement of the audience which included Steven Fry and Tim Minchin Sharon Staite [9] - SKY BACKSTAGE AT THE 02 LONDON GIGS If you're a customer of Sky television you can get a pass to get in quicker to the O2 gigs. My Sky is an online service from the company and you can register online to book access for free to a back of stage located Bar with perks. (Note this does not mean backstage in terms of band dressing rooms area. The Sky bar is an early access point physically located behind the O2 arena's actual stage) It's open from 5.30pm, and you can access with a booked pass if you are there early enough. You register with the My Sky service online, giving your sky card number from your TV box to prove who you are. You can then book a free pass for up to 3 guests, which is emailed for you to print. Here's the official press release... Sky bar attendees will be admitted to the arena before the general ticket holders. You must still have a gig ticket to enter. Sky has established a backstage area at The O2 exclusively for its customers, including what is claimed to be the world's first 3D viewing gallery. Opening today, Sky Backstage at The O2 is located directly behind the London venue's arena stage and is only available to Sky customers and their family and friends. Subscribers can register online for a Sky Backstage pass, permitting them and up to three guests to access the area before or after shows in the main arena. Inside the state-of-the-art space, Sky customers can experience the thrill of being snapped by "virtual paparazzi" on a red carpet or be transformed into rock stars on a 3D screen. They can also access a dressing room area staffed by professional hair and make-up artists, as well as enjoy a bar and food zone. Sky Backstage is accessible via the Sky Gallery, a new three-storey building located inside The O2 that features a world-first gallery showcasing the broadcaster's 3D content, including nature, ballet, sports and movies. "We want to give all our customers the opportunity to get closer to the entertainment - it's our way of saying thank you," said Lisa McHugh, Sky's director of customer communications & loyalty. "We are therefore delighted to be able to give our valued customers experiences like Sky Backstage, making their visit to The O2 even more unforgettable." Lesley Saville, executive director of partnerships at AEG Europe, owners and operators of The O2, added: "Since opening, The O2 has been a showcase for leading technology and world firsts so we are thrilled with Sky's innovative introduction of Sky Backstage and Sky Gallery." In August 2009, Sky became a founding partner in The O2 as part of a wide-ranging deal that includes brand exposure throughout the venue and the opportunity to demonstrate Sky content and products. You’ll need to show ID if you've pre-registered for entry to Sky Backstage on our website. Bank cards will be accepted as a form of identification. Darren Dixon / Maria Ashe / Madness facebook group / Sky / Digital spy [10] - SUGGS: 'I LOVE GOOD FOOD – AND A PROPER GREASY SPOON The Madness singer on royal canapés, being a butcher's boy and scoffing strawberries as a kid. I was born in Hastings and my earliest memory is of crawling about and eating pet food out of the cat's bowl, and being reprimanded for it, by the cat. At that age children pick up things inquisitively from the floor and chew them with no compunction. My second memory is of making a sugar sandwich. I was an urban kid, eating mainly bacon, egg and chips, but then I was sent to live with my aunt Dora in Pembrokeshire for three years. Seriously tasty tomatoes there. There was nature spouting up all over the gaff. There was a strawberry producer near to my aunt's who had one of those long poly-tunnels and me and my cousins were warned, under pain of a terrible whooping, not to crawl through. If we did, the first thing is our clothes would be completely splattered with strawberry juice, so there'd be no denying the crime. Therefore, once implicated, it made no sense not to scoff as many as humanly possible. When I moved back to London, Mum and I lived first in a one-bedroom flat in Clerkenwell where for a year and a half the milk was kept on the window ledge because we didn't have a fridge. After leaving school I worked as a butcher's delivery boy. I can remember pedalling up the hill to St Mary's Convent near the Angel. When they wouldn't open the door, I had to poke my sausages through the nuns' hatch. The eaterie I most associate with Madness is Goodfayre Cafe on Parkway in Camden. Their spaghetti Bolognese with chips was the thing. We used to call the place Stella's because there was an Italian waitress in there with an enormous black beehive whose mood was just as black. The places that have gone now and I miss are Hope Dining Rooms in Holloway Road, who did proper meat and two veg; and Tilly's in Camden, run by a nutcase called George who enjoyed 'having a knife-up', as he called it, and whose mum made brilliant pies. The great tragedy today is caffs – I still want to go to them but they use shit produce and serve bad food. Like so much of working-class popular culture they've gone to the lowest common denominator, while meanwhile it's £14.50 for a fried breakfast at a "posh caff" in Notting Hill. The innate joy of London is that you can get anything you want. At first for me it was the best trousers, cigarettes, music, girls, scooters, shoes, hats, coats clothes, and then film and theatre and finally food. In the culture of Madness there's the desire to go to Georges in Paris, but at the same time it doesn't mean I don't still love a greasy spoon. I don't mind eating on someone's yacht and I don't mind eating in someone's caravan. All these things have their reason and time and purpose, and a boiled egg is just as good as truffles on … well, a boiled egg. I have to say, having performed on its roof, that Buck House served the most delicious canapés. The royal vol-au-vents were fluffed within an inch of their lives. I tell people that I make food about as often as Halley's comet comes around, but I can actually cook and I'm not a bad one. It's just that my wife is so much better than me. So when it comes to the starting lane, in the kitchen, I'm always prepared to let her run ahead and win. But, when required, my signature dish is a pheasant stew. It began when we were in Norfolk on holiday and I found a pheasant dead by the roadside and plucked it, stuck it in a pot on the Aga, bunged in mushrooms, carrots, onions, potatoes, turnips, garlic, a big dollop of quince jelly and a lot of red wine, and left it stewing for as long as a slow boat to China. We eat as a family, of course we do. Proper meals with proper table manners. And then we dance on the table to Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. When I was at Port Eliot Festival, I had a guided tour of the estate's kitchens and was told that when one Lord Eliot, for financial reasons, was advised to get rid of his pastry chefs, he went upstairs to think about it, then returned and said "F*ck that – does a man only deserve a biscuit in the afternoon?". I chased a giant parmesan cheese down Farringdon Road. A neighbour bought an un-marked water-damaged container at a docks auction and asked for help (unsuccessfully) selling the yellow tractor-tyre-sized parmesans inside. One of them slipped from our hands outside an Italian church and then disappeared over the horizon. Probably my most spectacular meal was the first time I had oysters on the beach in Whitstable, where my wife comes from. And the most disgusting was tripe in Mexico which had been dried out, then reconstituted with a saline solution. Despite being a London thing, I can't get on with tripe, or jellied-eels. (sings) I've tried and tried, but I just can't hide, my revulsion. I think that eggs & bacon is one of the greatest combinations that God gave to us for breakfast, but I only have it once a fortnight, or week, nowadays. Some days it's sushi, some days an apple. The worst job I had at the butcher's was washing and scraping impervious fat off meat trays under freezing cold water, out the back. When I got promoted I had to take all the bits of pig that has hair – the ears, the snout, the bollocks and the bum hole - and carefully putting them through the hand-driven mincer to create this new-fangled delicacy from America they were calling the ham burger. It was quite an education. And, boy oh boy, it had to be done under the cover of darkness. Madness's Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da is out now. They play the House of Fun Weekender at Butlin's, Minehead from 23-26 November The Guardian / Thanks to Fiona Linnel for the link. [11] - MUSIC FEATURE - SUGGS FROM MADNESS From: http://www.rte.ie/ Published: Wednesday 14th November Interviewer: Harry Guerin Our thanks go to Vince Carden for passing this on to us. Ahead of their Dublin date at the 02 on Wednesday November 28, Madness frontman Suggs talks to Harry Guerin about the band's new album, Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da, memories and growing old very gracefully. Harry Guerin: Apart from the title, I think the biggest compliment that could be paid to you for Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da is that you all sound so young on it. Suggs: People have asked me, 'Could you imagine 30 years ago that you'd still be in the flipping charts?' No, definitely no! It's a real privilege, a great feeling to know that we're still held in some sort of regard. For the first time you've worked with a couple of different producers on the album - [longtime producer] Clive Langer, Owen Morris and Stephen Street among them. How did that decision come about? As with all Madness decisions there were about five billion phonecalls, fights, punch-ups, loving and hugging and making up and falling out again! We sent out our tracks to a lot of different producers and we weren't really sure if we were going to use one for the whole album. We got such a great reaction from three or four different producers and on different tracks - they hadn't all just gone for the same track - that we thought, 'Well actually, let's try them all if they're that passionate about different tracks'. The songs all stand out as possible singles but sit together as a whole. Well, that's what we hoped. Plus the faith we had in the fact that we've always written slightly diverse kind of songs - everyone in the band writes so you're always getting slightly different songs. But once they go through the old Madness Mincer they kind of join together one way or another. We try to make each song like a little epic in itself, so things like La Luna, obviously you've got a Mariachi band [on it]. We try and do that on every track; try and make a little atmosphere within itself. But hopefully not to make something that's unlistenable as an album! You're over in Dublin at the 02 on November 28. Can you remember the first time you played Ireland? God almighty. There's some legend that we played the Olympic Ballroom. My abiding memory is that people were jumping off the balcony. Some of them fell on fallow and some of them fell on, y'know... Those days were a bit of blur. We were just seven teenagers in this whirlwind of fun and frolics. What memories from early gigs do you find yourself returning to again and again? There are so many but a real clear one is getting our first proper gig at the Dublin Castle in Camden Town. The owner there, old Aloysius [Conlon] said to us [adopts Irish accent], 'Ok lads, what's your act?' And we thought, 'Oh, it's alright - it's a proper Irish pub!' We said, 'Country and Western'. And he went, 'Go on then! Country and Western, is it?' And when seven skinny teenagers in funny suits started leaping about playing Jamaican Ska the Irish regulars were somewhat bemused. But, the fact we sold a few pints that night, he gave us a residency and that really was a big step for us. We had a regular gig every week and people would start to follow us and we were starting to get somewhere. Some other memories? I also remember the first record we ever made. There's a photograph somewhere and we're standing at Archway Roundabout. I've got a traffic cone on my head - that was always the case in photographs of yore. And we're holding up the single and we're all just staring at this piece of vinyl with our name on it for the first time. I remember hearing our record on the radio. It was a building site on the Holloway Road and I nearly fell in the hole trying to hear it! And then the Two-Tone tour itself was a really remarkable time when we went on tour with The Specials and then The Beat and Dexy's Midnight Runners. What a ******* tour that was; that was really something else. Could you ever see a situation where you Dexy's and The Specials tour together again? Yeah, definitely. We would love to do that. For a big occasion it would really be amazing. When you were that teenager, did you have any timeframe for how long Madness would last? We didn't even think about one or two years, definitely not. When we got that residency on the Friday night in the Dublin Castle we were all working during the week and we thought, 'This is it! We make ****** ten quid each on a Friday night and there's a few birds turning up! We've made it!' And then things just went on and on and on, way beyond our expectations. Way beyond. These days, what gives you the biggest thrill - writing or touring? A bit of both. The thrill definitely comes from playing live. The gigs just seem to get better and better in terms of the audience and in terms of what we're at ourselves. The band is in such a great place - I hate that word but we are. Everyone is in such a good spirit at the moment. There was a great possibility of us falling into some black hole of Eighties nostalgia in early 2000. We could've just gone 'round doing the Christmas thing. But we just thought, '**** it, if we're going to do it...' Then we did the [Liberty of] Norton Folgate album [2009] and it was a bit like in Star Trek when you go Warp Factor Eight to get out of that black hole. It really, really worked and we got out of it! We got into outer space again and it's just a great place to be at the moment. Really great. I look at a lot of bands who have either stayed together or got back together and think that their hearts aren't in it or they are trying too hard to be young. But that never happens with Madness. What do you think is the secret? 'Cause we're a bunch of sirry idirots! We were never that rock 'n' roll. I think 'rock 'n' roll' in inverted commas is the one that gets a bit dodgy; your leather trousers and your tassled jacket and all that can start to look a bit manky when you're over 40. But we set about our work in the same state of mind that we have now - the way we look, the sort of music we like. It's not like we've deviated to some dark corner of young popular culture or ever tried to be fashionable, really. I think we just carved our own little world. And grew older gracefully... I saw the Buena Vista Social Club five years ago. Ibrahim Ferrer, God rest his soul, came on stage. He was 82; he had these white trousers, a white cheese cutter hat and a white shirt. He looked brilliant. He had two walking sticks and I thought, 'Oh no, what have we let ourselves in for?' When the music started he ****** the walking sticks in the air and started dancing like a ballet! I thought, 'There's an 82-year-old man and he's doing it with some dignity. It is actually possible'. It's a state of mind, almost. Your voice sounds great on this album. Have you taken more care of it as the years have gone on? I'm glad you asked that question: I had my voice trained in Vienna and I must go back for it one day! I've been very fortunate with my voice. It was never a great voice but it stayed; it hasn't gone anywhere fortunately. I drink and I smoke and I shout all night and it's still there, thereabouts, whatever there is of it. I think I did my best singing on this album. You can't look backwards or forwards too much but I feel I'm becoming a better singer, but not necessarily in the classic sense. I'm more confident in what I'm doing for sure. How's the setlist shaping up for the tour? Good. It's going through the usual process: we've had three punch-ups about it so far! It's coming on. There's never a dull moment in Madness, I must say. You ask about the setlist and quite seriously we've had 45 emails, six band meetings, 42 arguments and three punch-ups. And we still haven't decided what it's going to be yet! Any clues? Of course you play the chestnuts and they'll always be there and they're a great joy to play. And then a certain amount of the new songs and then there are discussions about slightly obscure songs that we haven't played for a long time, just out of interest. That's when the arguing starts! After 10 albums it gets a bit complicated as to what songs are going to make it and what aren't. I think that's one of the saving graces of the band as well: the filtration process is so convoluted that nothing gets past it unless it's good. Why do you think the bond has been so strong with Irish crowds over the years? There's a bit of Irish in the band... I think vocabulary is one thing. I could make some cheesy parallel between the way Irish are portrayed, or were, and the way Madness were portrayed. A bit of mistaking good humour for lack of intelligence, for want of a better phrase. And I think just the fact that we like a ****** good time but we're not stupid with it. How long do you think Madness can go on for? In those words of those great philosophers The Eagles, 'You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!' Madness play the 02 on Wednesday November 28. Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da is out now on Cooking Vinyl. [12] - MADNESS WEB SHOOTER COMING SOON Earlier this week we were contacted by Union Square Music's Holly Barringer, who gave us the heads-up on a new arcade shoot-em-up featuring Madness. Looking at the screenshots, the game looks to be in a similar style to Taito's "Operation Wolf", except rather than fill terrorists full of lead you're tasked with throwing custard pies at members of the band. Those who play will be in with a chance of winning a signed copy of Total Madness and a signed poster. All being well, the game should go live around Monday 26th of November. Our thanks go to Holly for letting us know about this. Naturally, we'll let you know more as soon as we do. Rob Hazelby [13] - THAT'S YER LOT It's time to draw things to a close, but before we do there are a couple of last minute bits to pass in your direction. First-up, here's a short snippet from The Sun web site; ON this week’s episode of This Feeling TV, SUGGS took his chance to give the telly some welly out of our newly christened Crouchie’s Window. See the full article at: http://bit.ly/Uix5AW Next, and news that's just reached us is that Madness will be appearing at the Midem Festival on January 26th at Cannes. More information can be found at: http://www.midemfestival.com/ Moving on, and Paul Rodgers reports that the Oui, Oui album, in it's third week has now dipped out of the top 40. It's hanging below at 59, still in the top 100 chart. Week one at number 10 sales including pre orders were 15,968 week two at number 40 sales were 5,209. In the independant chart they are at number 9. Complete Madness is there at 26 in the same chart, Total Madness is at 39. And finally, if you're a Twitter user don't forget to follow the MIS Online Twitter feed, which you can find at @MIS_Online. It's being ably manned by Simon, and will blast the latest Madness news straight to your desktop, mobile or tablet. And with that, we're done. To all those going to Butlins this coming weekend. Have a fantastic time. The MIS offices will be manned throughout the Weekender, and next week's issue will go out in the usual Sunday time slot. Have a great week, Simon, Jon, Rob and Liz (With special thanks to Holly Barringer, Vince Carden, Fiona Linnel, Andy McMad , Rob "Roy" Wardlaw, Garry Scurfield, Mark Bowen, Sharon Staite, Darren Dixon, Maria Ashe and Paul Rodgers)