IN THIS ISSUE ...

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

2 - WE DID IT! - Following the success of last weeks' Crunch gig,
    Crunch Mailing List Maintainer, Lee Swandale has been asked to
    pass on a few words from one of the members of the band, Tad.

3 - SHOWBUSINESS BY MARK RADCLIFFE - I've been reading Showbusiness
    by Mark Radcliffe (yes, the Radio 1 DJ) which talks about all
    the different bands he's been in, and he talks about going to
    see his first ska gig .. most entertaining! Bex reports...

4 - TO MAINLAND EUROPE WITH LP6 - The Los Palmas 6 have just returned
    from a massive 19 day tour of Germany which can only be described
    as a major success. Steve Turner provides us with a review of the
    tour as well as the latest line-up of gig dates.

5 - TAD WRITES - The most astounding thing about the past week since
    the gig is the amount of positive feedback I've seen from you
    guys out there... Tad of Crunch! returns with a few words.

6 - NEW LIVE MADNESS ALBUM - I had a phone call about this new live
    Madness album first of all. I dismissed straight it away as a
    'bootleg'. MIS Online subscriber, Simon Roberts is here with the
    details.

7 - SPANISH IN THE UNDERWORLD - You're probably heard that one Crunch
    fan who went along to the recent gig came all the way from Spain
    to witness the monumental occasion. Here is his story...

8 - SKA MAD IS HERE - After what seems an age, Juliet Bulmer returns
    with issue 9 of the ever excellent `Ska Mad` fanzine.

9 - HERE ARE MY RECOLLECTIONS - MIS Online subscriber Jonathan Young
    proves that he was probably a bit more sober than the majority of
    people who went along to the Crunch! gig by providing us with an
    in-depth review.

10 - MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE - Thanks and closing words.

[1] - THE EDITOR WRITES

Evening Maddies,

I hope everyone is keeping well.

We're a bit short on small tidbits this week so this section is a
little slimmer than those of previous weeks. Still, there's no need
to panic as the rest of this issue is bursting with nutty-tinged
goodness.

Since the success of Scatty's brilliantly organised Ian Dury Day, and
Lee Swandale's top organisational skills before and during the recent
Crunch! meet-up in London, there has been much talk on The Total
Madness Mailing List with regards to a `2001 Madness Weekend`. As you
can probably imagine, it's early days yet, but already the response
seems to be very good indeed and it looks that with or without a
Madness concert to organise it around, it will surely be a success.

As soon as more details arrive, I'll post them here. If the two
aforementioned meets are anything to go by, this will certainly be
one to look out for!

Some of you may have noticed that the MIS Online site is often out
of date. Well, I sat myself down yesterday and a couple of hours
later uploaded everything that was missing. You can now download
ALL back-issues of the MIS from the comfort of your computer desk.
Thanks to Simsey for pointing this out, there's even a mention of
`the issue that never was`. Simply visit the MIS Online site at:
http://www.jabba.demon.co.uk/mis/

More website news now, and the Official One Step Behind website
has also been updated with the latest gig guide and a small photo
gallery showing the band in action. Simply pop over to:
http://www.jabba.demon.co.uk/osb/

In the last issue of the MIS you may recall me saying that the only
shot we got of Suggs during Channel Four's airing of Party in the
Park was as he was walking off-stage. Well, apparently this isn't
quite true. Here's Adrian Keeble to set me straight;

     "To end the concert there was an all-star
      line up singing "With A Little Help From
      My Friends". Suggs appeared on stage
      alongside the likes of Brian May, Lionel
      Richie and Marti Pellow and had his own
      starring role singing a couple of the
      lines.

      I think he may have fluffed them because
      everyone started laughing as soon as he
      finished (incl Suggs himself!)"

Thanks for that little snippet.

And with that, it's time to get underway with this weeks articles.

Enjoy the read!

Robert Hazelby (MIS Online Editor)

[2] - WE DID IT!

Hi everyone,

Just been asked to pass on the bands thanks for making last Friday a
memorable event.

More gigs should be forthcoming and I will use this list to inform
you all !

The website now has a review page (Temporary) and hope to get some
piccys up there soon.

Over to Tad,

Lee Swandale (lee at crunch.uk.com)

     "Do us a big favour and thank all the guys...
      If they could send in any photos of the gig I
      think that'd be grand too.

      There's nothing like a fresh crop of j-pegs
      to wet the whistle! and the deepest darkest
      gallery pages on the website ?!!!

      Write up imminent [must do me tax return first!!!!]

      Keep 'em comin'

      Hope all's well..

      Tad"

[3] - SHOWBUSINESS BY MARK RADCLIFFE -

Hey guys

I know it's thoroughly in breach of copyright to send you such a
massive excerpt on e-mail, but I've been reading Showbusiness by
Mark Radcliffe (yes, the Radio 1 DJ) which talks about all the
different bands he's been in, and he talks about going to see his
first ska gig .. most entertaining!:

" .. It seems to me that, when sampled live, ska is like Cajun: if
you don't dance, then you're dead from the neck down.

After a short break, Madness came on and any last vestiges of
scepticism melted away as the nutty boys converted us lock, stock
and double-barrel to the ska faith.  In truth, Madness would have
succeeded in any era, being a sublime synthesis of punk, reggae, music
hall and classic English pop.

Their songs, in those days largely the work of pianist Mike Barson,
owed as much to Ray Davies as Joe Strummer, and sound as effortless
and wonderful today as they did when first released.  From their ska
roots they went from strength to strength with a sequence of timeless
singles, including "Baggy Trousers", "Embarrassment", "Grey Day",
"Our House", and one of the truly great pop records of all time,
"House of Fun".

In their later years they became, like ageing clowns, darker in their
outlook.  They released more sombre singles like "One Better Day" and
"Yesterday's Men", and dressed in black frock coats as if they'd
become a sublime synthesis of punk, reggae, music hall, classic
English pop and a firm of down-at-heel undertakers.

That night at the Apollo, though, it was all irresistible ska
showpieces, including "The Prince", a tribute to trail-blazer Prince
Buster, "One Step Beyond", "Night Boat to Cairo" and their celebrated
stab at Swan Lake, during which Tchaikovsky may well have been
rotating in his tomb, but if he was, he was doing it in a series of
rhythmic jerks.  The rhythmic jerks on stage were a joy to behold.
They had a bloke called Chas Smash, who has become the most
celebrated Bez in pop apart from Bez himself.  His job was to dance
next to singer Suggs like a man possessed, or a man in fear of being
busted for possession, cruise up to the microphone occasionally and
from beneath the brim of his pork pie hat emit a string of
clenched-teeth "chikka-chikka-chikka-chikka" noises interspersed with
the odd "oi".  What a splendid chap.  At regular intervals he would
lead the band in a single-file crocodile across the stage,
demonstrating the trademark slow-motion staccato-sprinting Madness
dance, which Phil and I would later perform halfway along Hyde Road
until we found a kebab house.

The great thing about Madness was that they exuded good humour, like
they were just a bunch of mates out for a laugh.  They took the music
a lot more seriously than they took themselves, and that was what
endeared them to a generation of fans."

He then talks about how he and his mate planned to become
Manchester's answer to Madness - very funny book actually.

Many thanks go to Bex for the typing.

[4] - TO MAINLAND EUROPE WITH LP6

Hi all,

We left Dover on Friday the 7th July and headed for Munster in
Germany. Over the next 8 nights we played every night in different
German NAAFI venues to brilliant crowds who couldn't get enough of
us. Every gig went well and we stayed in top hotels every night (we
didn't even trash the mini-bars) What has happened to good old sex,
drugs and rock and roll? We must be getting old!

We played at Munster, Gutersloh, Krefeld, Gutersloh, Paderborn,
Monchengladbach, Osnabruck and Herford travelling over 1900 miles,
Worthing - Worthing.

After our last gig on Friday 14th we loaded up and drove home
arriving back at midday on Sat. If any bands are offered a trip like
this ensure you plan a day off in the middle as we had problems with
the voices lasting for the whole trip - mind you, we had played 16
out of 19 nights on the trot.

Conclusion....excellent fun if you go down well, I wouldn't want to
be over in the bases if the band was crap!

        Gig guide

        July
         29th Worthing Seafront Fayre (huge free outdoor gig)

       Aug
        4th   The Brunswick - Hove
        18th NAAFI JRC - Blanford, Dorset
        19th The Wyvern Theatre - Swindon
        25th Litten Tree - Worthing
        26th Durrington WMC
        27th The Old Forge - Worton, Devises

Thanks to everyone who came to the Ian Dury/Cancer benefit gig in
Worthing on July 4th. Great gig we raised over £400

See Ya!

Steve Turner

The Los Palmas 6 (7)
lospalmas6 at hotmail.com
www.lp6.co.uk

[5] - TAD WRITES

The most astounding thing about the past week since the gig is the
amount of positive feedback I've seen from you guys out there...
courtesy of Swanny's many file attachments e-mailed to my private
address under plain brown paper wrapping! Keep 'em coming!

I'll keep this message short... not least because I'm off to board
me a flight to the warmer climes of the Iberian coast this evening
and I've got the taste for a drop of a malt or two.... nice!

THE GIG

Well, what can I say? Personally, I was blown away by the roar of a
greeting we got as we walked out onto the stage..nice one!..Glad we
could be of service! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

THANKS TO...

Thanks to everyone who done the business and got there... without
y'all these things can't happen. In particular I'd like to send out
a special shout to the various people who told me they'd travelled
miles and miles to come and see us... the two Vince's from Ireland;
Mikel from Spain [!] I believe there were a few chaps down from
Scotland too... hey chaps! Nicely done! That goes a long way, I can
tell you!

Tell all your friends and neighbours... get 'em all along.. it'll be
great to see you! See you all at the next one!

One last thing: don't forget...the crunch site is your site too...a
great open forum to send in your gig pics and photos for the now
legendary Mr Swanny Swandale to sift through and post to the site!

'Till the next one... Right up ya!
All the best!

Tad
  x

[6] - NEW LIVE MADNESS ALBUM

I had a phone call about this new live Madness album first of all.
I dismissed straight it away as a 'bootleg', as I said before, we
know some months (or sometimes years!) in advance what is going on
in the Madness scene.

Anyway, in a combined effort I've managed tracked it down!!

And its not a bootleg!!

Its a limited 500 Pressing..

Its name - Madness - 'Live at the BBC'
Pressed, and only available in Germany
(Import- just like the good ol' days of strange import concerts !)

It has a UPC (Universal product code- meaning its not a bootleg) and
has been licensed from the BBC and the 'powers that be' i.e. Virgin,
EMI etc... so I guess a one-off lump sum to Virgin and the beeb!!

It was released on 19th June 2000.
For the anoraks-
Deutschland new issues in the same wave::
MADNESS - ABSOLUTELY-REMASTERED (released 05-Jun-00 Germany)
MADNESS - DIVINE MADNESS (released 05-June 00 Germany)
MADNESS - KEEP MOVING CD album (released 05-Jun-00 Germany)
MADNESS - LIVE AT BBC CD album (released 19-Jun-00 Germany)
MADNESS - THE RISE AND FALL CD album (released 05-Jun-00 Germany)

That's about it.
I know no more, I've ordered a copy (and so has my friend) so at
least 498 copies are left!

Looking back at the 'Third coming of Madness', Madness have done
very little 'Live Wise' at the beeb, they did an awful drunken out
of key set at Sheffield , and before that 'Madstock IV' in 1998
(and hopefully not the last)- I heard a rumour they did a radio
session at the beeb this year that was never aired.. so I'll have
to wait and see.

Oh! and the URL where I could only find it!!

http://www.101cd.com/ogrp01.asp?artist=MADNESS&s=

Nuttiness,

Simon Roberts (wayfinder at btinternet.com)

[7] - SPANISH IN THE UNDERWORLD

After accommodating in the Hotel, I took the tube to Camden Town,
where I looked for the Spread Eagle up and down Camden Town for a
while until I decided to call Lee (Swanny). I must be good at
selecting phone boxes because he was right outside the telephone
from which I was calling him!

After shaking hands, Swanny and Graham took me to the pub where I
met the rest of the people. I practised a bit of Spanish with Simesy
and then I left again with Swanny and Graham to see the backstage.
There I met a few band members and Chrissy Boy!! We talked for a few
seconds. I was amazed to go there and within minutes meeting one of
my heroes!! I also helped them carrying some of their equipment to
the basement and then we left to the "Crunchmeet" again.

We spent hours in the World's End, where there were more and more
people coming to the part of the pub that we took as our
headquarters. I met most of the people whose names I constantly read
in the Madness related mails. All of them were extremely nice and
made me feel as I knew them for years. Really easy going people for
an outsider like me...

When the time to go to the Underworld finally came, we went
downstairs and I immediately saw Lee Thomson. I rushed to Swanny to
get his help and he introduced me to Lee, who signed an autograph,
and was also very friendly and kind of "close", he really impressed
me. They say that meeting your heroes can be disappointing, but this
time was just the opposite.

The concert begun and we all started dancing, pushing and jumping. 1
metre away from the stage...great!! Unfortunately I think that the
concert began a bit late, so after one hour or so a waitress from the
Underworld was asking the band to finish...There were a couple of new
songs and the rest were all well known by all of us.

Once outside the venue, we waited for the band to have our tickets
signed. Another chance to talk to the band members and to realise
how friendly and "normal" people they are.

After this we all left. Remembering all now, I must thank everybody
for their friendliness with me and specially Swanny for organising
everything so well and for making the trip worth for many reasons.
And a big hello to those of you who I met. I hope to see you again
soon.

I will start saving for the next chance to see them play!!

All the best,

Mikel Echeberria (echeberria.m at ikusi.es)

[8] - SKA MAD IS HERE

After what seems an age, Juliet Bulmer returns with issue 9 of the
ever excellent `Ska Mad` fanzine. Before we get underway with an
in-depth review, here are a few words from Juliet herself...

     "The ever late Ska-Mad is finally here. I have
      two excuses for you this time;

      1. I may be moving again soon

      2. I was deciding whether or not to give Ska-Mad
         up, but with the persuasion of friends, loved
         ones and Ska-Mad subscribers I have decided to
         carry on. Plus I enjoy writing and designing it
         anyway.

      So, I hope you enjoy it and remember to keep the
      reviews, photographs and information flowing in to
      Skad Mad

      Take care and enjoy yourself in our Mad world,

      Juliet"

Which leads us nicely on to the review...

Issue 9 starts off with a 4 page section announcing the recent death
of the beloved Ian Dury along with a nice collection of newspaper and
magazine snippets from The Daily Mirror, The Daily record, and even a
mention of the TMML and how a great many people had written to the
list expressing their sorrow for the loss of such a great man.

Moving on, and Juliet has compiled a comprehensive selection of
Madness related websites which feature some of the most popular
Madsites around at the moment. Get loading that web browser and start
clicking away!

Are you one of the many people who've missed the recent `Question of
Pop` series shown on BBC1? Well, fear not. You don't get a free cover
mounted video tape of the show with this issue, but you do get a full
colour flyer of Jamie Theakston, Noddy Holder, and the legendary
Suggs to chuckle over, along with a short review of the show. As
Juliet rightly says "Lets hope the BBC record another series soon".

Time for a coffee break now as we move on to this edition's Madness
crossword. Always well put together, this gives the reader an
opportunity to test his or her Madness knowledge with 10 nutty tinged
conundrums.

I'm sure that for many people (including myself), the first really
good look at Mrs. McPherson was on the recently aired `This is Your
Life` featuring Suggs. Well, you may be surprised just how many
Madness video's she's actually appeared in. Juliet reveals not only
that, but gives us the lowdown on Bette Bright (Mrs. McPherson),
charting some of the high points of her career.

As you should all be aware by now, the chance of any Madness concerts
this year are very slim indeed. So with that in mind, you'll be
wanting to go straight to the centre of the `zine where Juliet has
put together a massive rundown of all the Madness and ska related
gigs she knows that are coming up over the next 3 months.

Further back I mentioned the recently aired `This is Your Life`
featuring Suggs. Well, Juliet has gone into screen-grab overdrive by
putting together a truly superb photo gallery from the show. All the
best shots are here; Suggs as a baby, as a small boy, and on the set
of `A Question of Pop` as he's being told `Tonight, Suggs, this is
your life`. There's also photos of Suggs mum, Suggs wife, two
daughters, and cousins. Couple that with a short review and an
an explanation of who's who in each photo it's a must-see for all
Madness fans.

Continuing on through and we have the `Newsletter from The Los
Palmas 6` letting us in on what they've been up to over the past
couple of months, whilst turning over the page there are contact
details, gig line-up for July, and a review of the Haywards Heath
gig from back in May.

Flicking further through and we have the latest news from The Velvet
Ghost (from the official website) and a review of the UK's top
Specials tribute - `The More Specials`, and for those of you still
having trouble finishing the crossword featured in issue 8, Suzanne
Gilmour finally puts us out of our misery with the solution.

As with the last issue of the `zine, number 9 features top quality
photos and images, with the majority in full techno colour. This is
just one of the features that makes Ska-Mad stand out from the rest
of the Madness/ska fanzines I review on a regular basis.

Well, what can I say? Each edition of Ska-Mad consistently improves
on the one that went before it. I can put my hand on my heart and
tell you that this is the best issue yet, and I'm really pleased that
Juliet has decided to stick with the fanzine and continue publishing
it.

If you're not subscribed, why not check out this issue to see if a
subscription would be worth investing in.

To get in touch with Juliet, please feel free to drop her an e-mail
at: juliet at ska-mad.freeserve.co.uk or juliet_bulmer at hotmail.com

or write to;

    Juliet Bulmer,
    Ska Mad,
    21 Altdam Farm.
    66 Park View Road,
    Salfords,
    Surrey,
    RH1 5DN

Many thanks go to Juliet for providing the review copy of Ska-Mad.

[9] - HERE ARE MY RECOLLECTIONS

"The Underworld, under the worlds end pub, crap pun really but a
great guide to location. I was expecting a bigger location but
pleased that myself and friends could be so close to the band.

Just like a Madness gig many of the fashions and haircuts send me
into a timewarp! We stood on the balcony bit right up close to the
band. Chatting with the Photographer he told us one of the Support
bands never turned up and said he'd been hired by the band to do
some photographs which were going to be put up on the internet in
September. He also said the band were only planning on doing this
one gig to test the water. I only hope our tidal wave of cheering
eggs them on to more shows.

I had never seen Crunch play before but they started I was amazed
at the power of the sound. Fantastic. El thomo wearing long coat,
black gloves, The hat from Drip fed fred video and prisoner numbered
shirt as seen in the Mad dogs tour photos.

They started with HERE HE COMES. Which was great even though most
people perhaps hadn't heard this one. It went down well. They played
Magic carpet a few songs later and the room went crazy, with
unfortunately a few people invading the stage which eventually put
Lee off a bit.

They played most of the album and all of the "Police man" single,
also "Going Solo" and the excellent "Saints and Sinners". By this
time I was on the dance floor,jumping pissed, sweating, happy and
everything is a blur from then on but my thanks to anyone who
helped the three of us up when we fell down! Magic stuff! "

Jon Young(+ The second-originally Chrissy boy and Mike R

[10] - MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE

Thank you to everyone who sent me bits and pieces for this edition
of the MIS. Everything has really been appreciated no matter how
large or how small. Special thanks to Mikel and Jonathan for the top
reviews of the recent Crunch gig, Juliet Bulmer for the promo copy
of Ska-Mad, Simon Roberts for the live album info, Lee Swandale for
keeping us all up-to-date with the goings on in Crunch, Bex for the
typing efforts, and Steve Turner for continually sending me the
latest Los Palmas 6 info.

If you have anything you'd like to send for inclusion in next week's
edition of the MIS, please get in touch and I'll be more than happy
to include it.

Until next week...

All the nutty best,

Robert Hazelby