IN THIS ISSUE ...

1 - THE EDITOR WRITES - This weeks news and information in brief.

2 - HARBOURING ALIENS - When you're in a band, most of the time it's
    a case of work, work, work. So what do band members get up to
    when they're not gigging or partying? Brendan Phipps from Madness
    tribute band, One Step Behind reveals all.

3 - GET BUYING YOUR BLANK VIDEOTAPES - Adrian Keeble and John Crosby,
    have details of some up and coming Madness television
    appearances. Just make sure you've got some blank video tapes!

4 - ZINE MACHINE - Madness Unsugged Editor, Vince Carden reports on
    the forthcoming release of issue 5, due out at the end of the
    month.

5 -  A WONDERFUL AUCTION - How do you fancy getting your hands on a
     signed copy of the `Wonderful` album? Well, now's your chance.
     Cathy Bundy is here with some more information.

6 - DURY PICS NOW ONLINE - It's been a few months since the Ian Dury
    Tribute concert which was held in London's Brixton Academy, but
    TMML subscriber, Simsey has finally got round to developing the
    film, scanning in the pics, and making them available for online
    viewing.

7 - TIME MACHINE - Taken from Mojo Magazine, and painstakingly
    typed-up by Fiona Linnell.

8 - AND SO, TO BED - Thanks and closing words

[1] - THE EDITOR WRITES

Evening all,

I hope this past week has treated everyone well.

Following the rush-jobs of the past two editions of the MIS due to a
serious bout of DIY, it's nice to be able to spend a bit more time
putting an issue together.

You may recall a few months back Madness Unsugged editor, Vince
Carden setting-up a competition to name the new album by Cathal
Smyth's new band `Velvet Ghost`. Well, Vince says that the winner(s)
should be announced soon, but he's just waiting for the all-clear
from Cathal. As soon as anything is revealed, it will printed in
the subsequent edition of the MIS.

Many thanks to Vince for the update.

Fancy getting together with a few like-minded people for some food,
drink and a variety of good music? If so, you'd better get yourself
along to The TMML's September Mini Madmeet. The plan is to meet up
in Camden Town on Saturday 30th September from 1pm onwards. If you
are interested in coming along, please get in touch with Becky Lane
at the following address so that she has some idea of how many
people to expect; nutty_bex at hotmail.com

If rumours and emails I've been ready are correct, then Wednesday
27th of September could finally be the day we've all been waiting a
long time for, as the Madness edition of `Young Guns` finally airs
on BBC2. Get those blank tapes at the ready.

Just before we move onto this weeks selection of articles, I received
an email from the ever-helpful Jean-Pierre Boutellier at Ska News,
saying that he had read in a French rock magazine that a number of
members from Madness and Steel Pulse are forming a new band called
PAMA. He asked if I had any further information to give him. Well,
unfortunately I was no use at all as this was the first time I had
heard anything about this. So, I'm printing this here in the hope
that someone or some people out there can shine some more light on
this. If you know anything about this, please drop me an email.

Right, that's about it for the moment, so lets get on with this weeks
articles.

Enjoy the read,

Robert Hazelby (MIS Online Editor)

[2] - HARBOURING ALIENS

Some news just in from Brendan Phipps of One Step Behind, following
their recent short tour in Holland...

     "Just come back from 3 dates in Holland. Had
      an interesting night, though. We were on the
      Calais - Dover ferry at 4am this morning and
      returned to our van on the cargo deck at
      Dover to find an Iraqi immigrant hiding in
      it.

      The current fine for harbouring aliens is
      somewhere in the region of 2000, and the boat
      security men were not more than 100 yards away.
      This all went through our minds in seconds.

      You will not believe how far an Iraqi can fly
      in situations like this!!"

Brendan Phipps

For the current gig line-up and more, please visit the official One
Step Behind website at: http://www.jabba.demon.co.uk/osb/

Please note that no Iraqis were harmed during the making of this
article.

[3] - GET BUYING YOUR BLANK VIDEOTAPES

MIS Online subscriber, Adrian Keeble reports that it may be time to
get those blank videotapes at the ready again. Madness could be
appearing on `Routes of Rock` on Monday 11th September at 10:30pm
on ITV (Carlton area).

The programme write up for this episode called "Going Home"  features
a small piece on Madness and their ground breaking videos that were
set in London.

Staying on the subject of getting your blank tapes at the ready, and
TMML subscriber, John Crosby tells us that;

     "Having just checked the Web Page  for Chas
      Smash, there is news that he will be on the
      BBC2 Series on 1979 which will shown on
      Saturday 23rd September at 9:00pm".

Many thanks to Adrian and John for the news - much appreciated!

[4] - ZINE MACHINE

Onto some `zine related news, and `Madness Unsugged` fanzine
editor, Vincent Carden reports that he will soon be doing an
interview with a Blockhead and would like you, to ask some of the
questions being fired at him. If you have a burning question, query
or general poser, please send them on an email to Vince.

`Madness Unsugged` issue 5 will be out at the end of September.
Issues are usually 32 pages long, but this one will be a one-off 48
page special with a large dollop of Upminster in it to commemorate
the recent passing of a certain Blockhead.

For more information on any of the above including subscription to
Madness Unsugged, please contact Vince at the following address:
dripfedvin at yahoo.com

[5] - A WONDERFUL AUCTION

Something that may interest all you collectors here. It's a signed
copy of the last Madness album, Wonderful and it's up for grabs on
Ebay. The seller, Cathy Bundy is obviously very keen to sell this
item as she sent me the details, asking if I'd be happy to print them
in the MIS. Here's Cathy with some more information;

     "I have like a mint signed madness album for sale.
      I got it as a present from my darling mum, but
      it was not really my bag. It is being auctioned
      on Ebay.

      When I say mint, I mean mint! It is 100% scratchless.
      It is a bargain @ £28.00. I was told that they have
      gone for £50.00, but I am letting it go for less.
      Just have a look...  couldn't be easier with me
      accepting cheques and postal orders."

For more information, take a look at the EBAY auction at:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=432781893

Many thanks to Cathy for passing on the details.

[6] - DURY PICS NOW ONLINE

It's been a few months since the Ian Dury Tribute concert which was
held in London's Brixton Academy, but TMML subscriber, Simsey has
finally got round to developing the film, scanning in the pics, and
making them available for online viewing. He says that;

     "They're not brilliant because the camera was held
      above my head in a dark, sweaty, smoky auditorium.
      But, you can make out Suggs, Kathy Burke, Wreckless
      Eric, Humphrey Ocean (the Kilburner who drew the
      picture on the cover of Baggy Trousers), Kix, Gilad
      Atzmon and Saffron".

Simsey also mentions that there's also a `groovy` picture of his good
self also available for public viewing. Pop along to:

http://www.countrybumpkin.ndo.co.uk

Keep your eye on Simsey's site, because if all goes according to
plan, there should be a selection of shots taken from the Crunch gig
on 17th July available shortly - just don't hold your breath!

Thanks go to Simsey for the news.

[7] - TIME MACHINE

September 1 1979 - 2Tone craze storms Britain

The Prince by Madness had entered the British charts on September 1.
The Specials were still riding high in the Top 10 with Gangsters.
Those hot, hot summer holidays were over and the standard school
uniform of black and white took on a whole new meaning. Pocket
money was spent on 2Tone badges and scarves. Ties were worn
narrow-side out and uniform was altered to drainpipe trousers, white
socks and penny loafers.

"2Tone was taking over," recalls Pauline Black, lead vocalist with
The Selecter. "I remember walking down Oxford Street. Every shop
display was taking off the 2Tone label's black and white. Even
Evans, the large size women's clothes store. It was amazing."

"We felt part of something important," recalls Cathal Smyth, alias
Chas Smash, Madness' dancer and compere. "It was a real movement, a
family for us and our fans."

Taking Berry Gordy's Motown as the blueprint and "with an agenda for
social change resulting in racial harmony", The Specials' organist
and chief songwriter Jerry Dammers set up 2Tone and had The Specials
rubber-stamping 5,000 plain paper sleeves for their debut single
Gangsters in bassist Horace 'Gentlemen' Panter's bedroom a mere 5
months earlier. On signing a distribution deal with Chrysalis -
which meant turning down a disgruntled Mick Jagger representing
Rolling Stone Records ("We knew who he was," says Terry Hall, lead
singer with The Specials, "But we weren't interested in him")-2Tone
burst overground. Dammers celebrated with the announcement of a 40
date UK tour.

"We wanted to make it as good a bill as possible," explains Terry
Hall. "Three superb bands so it was full-on. Jerry wanted it to be
like a 60s soul revue."

There were a few hitches. "Jerry lost his organ through the
floorboards after fans invaded the stage," recalls Hall. There was
violence at Hatfield Polythenic and ticket prices were hiked up.
"Jerry went beserk," remembers Smyth. "He refused to go on until
the money was refunded."

Dammer's sell-out nightmares were just around the corner,but first
came the 2Tone invasion of Top of the Pops by Madness, The Specials
and The Selecter.

"We knew we'd made it then," laughs Smyth. "I was glued to that
programme every week as a kid watching Gary Glitter, Marc Bolan and
The Sweet. I was proud to be on there."

But behind the scenes "it was a total stitch-up", according to Smyth.
"We got herded around like sheep and so did the audience. There was
no interaction allowed between bands. We were told to stay in our
individual dressing room and not to come out until we were called.
The audience were told when to clap, when to duck when a camera
zoomed over their heads and when to move as cables were coming
through. We were a nightmare. There were seven of us and no way
could we be contained in one room."

All 3 groups also refused a BBC make-over "We'd been on German TV
just before," remembers Hall. "They'd insisted on make up and we
looked bright orange. It was embarrassing"

Only three months later, Dammers declared: "2Tone has become a
monster." It's success - 5 Top 10 hits, including The Specials'
first Number 1 with the live EP featuring Too Much Too Young - had
taken it's toll. "It was fine in the beginning," recalls Terry Hall.
"We were kicking back against Coventry, bad schooling, no jobs,
racism. It became difficult when there was nothing left to rebel
against. We couldn't sing about unemployment when we were buying
ready-made meals for two from Marks and Spencer. I can't say I
enjoyed myself after the first tour."

"In the end, Jerry took it to extremes," explains Smyth. "He wouldn't
sit down on the tour bus. He'd give his seat to a fan while he
crouched on the floor because he felt guilty. He'd sleep on park
benches instead of hotel rooms and refuse to go in limos."

Lois Wilson

(C) Mojo Magazine

[8] - AND SO, TO BED

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed material or who's work
appears in this edition of the MIS. As always, I'm on the look-out
for future material or contributors, so if you think you can help,
please drop me an email.

Until next week, take care.

Kind regards,

Robert Hazelby