Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 896 – Sunday 10th July to Saturday 16th July 2016
They say that “All good things come to an end”, and this week Suggs declared that his solo Shepard’s Bush Empire show in London will be the last performance of his “My Life In Words” tour.
Suggs appeared in an amusing Camden Town video promo for the event, which featured numerous locations of the much-loved North London borough. Check it it out here;
https://www.facebook.com/thesuggsmcpherson/videos/630615323768453/
With the tour coming to an end we wonder if this or the previously filmed evening will be released on DVD in the future.
We know that an audio book of “That Close” already exists, and a truncated radio broadcast has happened. We feel that it would be nice to have a video archive of the tour, and it would no doubt be snapped-up by collectors.
Keep those fingers crossed!
Enjoy the read,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
SHOWTIMES
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.
Madness
July
Saturday 30th – Kendal Calling, Penrith http://www.kendalcalling.co.uk/information/ticket-info/
Sunday 31st – Y Not Festival, Matlock
http://www.ynotfestivals.co.uk
August
Thursday 4th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange * Sold Out *
More info at: http://m.whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk/event/028964-madness/
Friday 5th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
More info at: http://m.whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk/event/028964-madness/
Saturday 6th –Tartan Heart Festival, Inverness, Scotland (headliners)
More info at www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk
Thursday 11th – Cropredy Festival, Oxfordshire. First day headliner
Saturday 13th – Boom Town Fair – Winchester
Friday 19th – Cyfartha Castle, Merthyr Tydfil
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/37005067CAE570E4?tpab=-1
Saturday 20th – Titanic Belfast, Belsonic
http://www.ticketmaster.ie/Titanic-Belfast-tickets-Belfast/venue/461375
Monday 29th – House of Common, Clapham Common
More info at: http://www.madness.co.uk/houseofcommon/
September
Sunday 3rd – Crammerock Festival, Belgium
Sunday 4th – Jersey Live Festival, Jersey
Sunday 11th – Hyde Park. Radio 2’s Festival in a Day
Friday 30th – Sweden, Grona Lund Amusement Park
October
Saturday 1st – Norway – Rockefeller Music Hall
Monday 3rd – Germany – Berlin – Tempodrom
Tuesday 4th – Germany – Bochum – Ruhrcongress
November
Friday 18th – Monday 21st – Madness Weekender 6, Minehead
December
Thursday 1st – Bournemouth – Can’t Touch us Now
Friday 2nd – Cardiff – Can’t Touch us Now
Saturday 3rd – Brighton – Matinee – Can’t Touch us Now
Saturday 3rd – Brighton – Can’t Touch us Now ** Sold Out **
Monday 5th – Groningen, The Netherlands ** Sold Out **
http://www.de-oosterpoort.nl/programma/madness/
Tuesday 6th – Tilburg, The Netherlands
Thursday 8th – Newcastle – Can’t Touch us Now
Friday 9th – Sheffield – Can’t Touch us Now
Saturday 10th – London – Can’t Touch us Now
Monday 12th – Nottingham – Can’t Touch us Now
Tuesday 13th – Bridlington – Can’t Touch us Now
Thursday 15th – Glasgow – Can’t Touch us Now
Friday 16th – Manchester – Can’t Touch us Now
Saturday 17th – Birmingham – Can’t Touch us Now
Can’t Touch us Now tickets from: http://www.gigsandtours.com/tour/madness/
Suggs
July
Saturday 16th – Henham park Suffolk, Latitude Festival – Late night at sunrise (DJ set alongside Mike Skinner Tonga) https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/suggs-1
Thursday 21st – Guildford Glive
Friday 22nd – Guildford Glive
Saturday 23rd – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire (Rescheduled)
August
Saturday 27th – Bangor, Northern Ireland – Talking Musical Revolutions. Part of the “Open House Festival”
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
July
Friday 22nd, Hampton Pool Picnic, Supporting The Selecter * Sold Out *
August
Thursday 18th, Newham Free Festival
Thursday 25th – Album Launch Party – Bite The Bullet – 100 Club Oxford Street London
Sunday 28th – DJ set @ Commoners Against Cancer – Dublin Castle. Noon
November
House of Fun Weekender
The Near Jazz Experience
July 12th, Indo, Whitechapel, London
Clang
July
23rd The Dublin Castle Camden London.
24th 02 Academy Liverpool LIMFestival.com
BUY IT
Madness – New Album – You Can’t Touch Us Now – Pre Order – October 21st
Pre order now – and get “Untouchable Madhead” Status.
http://www.madness.co.uk/cant-touch-us-now/
Potential Tracks, Based only on last years House of Fun set – Grandslam, I Believe, Soul Denying, Mumbo Jumbo. When Did All The Good Times Go, Herbet, Mr Apples, Blackbird On The Wing, Dont Leave The Past Behind You, Whistling In The Dark, Cant Touch Us Now, Given The Opportunity, Another Version of Me.
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra – Bite The Bullet – August 25th (available Signed from the 100 club launch on the 25th)
Vinyl £13.55 (Includes free mp3 version)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FEA9NYE
CD £11.37 (includes free mp3 version)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FEA9NTY
Mp3 album also available on its own £7.99
Tracks – Based on Amazon – Step It Up Sister, Bite The Bullet, Western Standard Time, Cuss Cuss, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Feel a Little Better, Hongry, The Wickerman, 30,60,90 , I am King, Cry To Me, I’ll be back again.
HEAR TRACKS IN PREVIEW
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GM41SM6/ref=dm_ws_ap_tlw_alb7
Nick Woodgate – Kaleidoscope
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/kaleidoscope-ep/id1119928331
Tracks 1, Morning Skies 2, Yvonne 3. She’s The One 4. All The screams in the night.
Dance Crazy – The Best of Specialized Ska Live
A little nod and appreciation as we at Specialized celebrate the 35th birthday in 2016 of the 2Tone movie & soundtrack “Dance Craze”
This album Features original acts & covers bands paying respects to the Dance Craze phenomenon.
All recorded live.
The same songs as Dance Craze by new bands 35 years on. (Including live covers of Madness) pre order now £10 (£2.50 p&p)
http://www.specializedproject.co.uk/shop/
Trembling Earth – A Scottish Ska Collection
(F&J Records SHaG036/SHaG036CD)
Release: July 25, 2016 – 2-disc CD, + iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc
Invented in Jamaica, customised in Coventry, bastardised in America and recycled by cover bands the world over, ska has enjoyed a colourful journey this last 50 years or so, as its centre of gravity has shifted from country to country, scene to scene.
But where is the spirit of ska hanging its narrow-brimmed hat these days?
Look to Scotland, where more than a dozen bands are headlining ground-shaking live shows and releasing their own offbeat original songs.
For the first time, TREMBLING EARTH collects tracks from right across this energetic and independent scene – 33 songs on a double-disc set, from 16 bands representing the past, present and future of Scottish ska – Bombskare, The Amphetameanies, Esperanza, Victorian Trout Conspiracy, Root System, The Cut Throat Razors, Big Hand, Bis, The Newtown Grunts, Big Fat Panda, Sea Bass Kid, The Skarsoles, Urang Matang, Capone and the Bullets, Joe Viterbo and The Cherry Reds.
There are earworms, wit and virtuosity aplenty here, but true to its roots, this collection’s main aim is to make people dance. We hope that it works for you.
Below are your private links to preview and download both discs of Trembling Earth as individual hi-fidelity wav files. Please use responsibly.
(If you’d like a hard copy of this release, just reply to amphetameanies@hotmail.com with your address, and I’ll pop one in the post.)
Disc One
https://soundcloud.com/f-j-records/sets/trembling-earth-a-scottish-ska/s-ePkEw
Disc Two
https://soundcloud.com/f-j-records/sets/trembling-earth-a-scottish-1/s-QdHrb
For more information, read our A to Z of Scottish Ska
Click here for downloadable pics of the bands and the release
Tracks – Disc One
1) Bombskare – Crime of the Century
2) The Amphetameanies – This Boy
3) Esperanza – Forget It
4) Capone and the Bullets – Twisted
5) Big Hand – Magnet
6) Root System – Don’t Worry
7) Urang Matang – Teddy Cut A Dash
8) Skarsoles – Four More Shots
9) Big Fat Panda – Nice To Dance With
10) Victorian Trout Conspiracy – Ciderbam
11) Sea Bass Kid – Skaturday Night
12) Joe Viterbo – Too Old For The Disco
13) The Amphetameanies – Ghost Bus
14) Bis – Everybody Thinks That They’re Going To Get Theirs
15) Bombskare – Mr Undiplomatic
16) Cut Throat Razors – Dr Gelati and the Lemon Garden
17) Cherry Reds – What did you say?
Tracks – Disc Two
1) Victorian Trout Conspiracy – All My Days
2) Esperanza – One Man Down
3) Newtown Grunts – Thrown Away
4) Big Fat Panda – Nobody There
5) Sea Bass Kid – Ginger Stare
6) Cut Throat Razors – Freedom
6) Skarsoles – Skaramanga
7) Capone and the Bullets – I Don’t Feel
9) Root System – It’s Up To Me, It’s Up To You
10) Big Hand – Rock The Boat
11) Urang Matang – Down In A Hole
12) Bombskare – Do All Dogs Go To Heaven?
13) The Amphetameanies – Tales of the Arizona Highway Patrol
14)Capone and the Bullets – Girl
15) Esperanza – Mr Rude
16) Joe Viterbo – I fuckin’ telt you
————————–
“But mark the rustic, haggis-fed, the trembling earth resounds his tread…”
(Robert Burns)
Gordy
F&J Records, Glasgow
07779117142
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Suggs in Free NME
Suggs crops up in this week/month/whatever it is they do these days NME Glasto review special.
A small photo of him looking slightly ‘refreshed’ with Steve Interesting Davis.
It’s free these days, so if that’s a combo people feel they can’t live without…
or follow this link…
http://www.nme.com/photos/the-story-of-glastonbury-2016-in-pictures/409754#/photo/13
Owen Collins.
LIVE AND INTENSIFIED
Second Roxy Madness Gig
http://www.vivaroxymusic.com/articles_511.php
Members of Roxy Music and Madness took part in a charity gig at Soho Food Festival yesterday. (July 2nd)
The band consisted of Roxy’s Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson with Suggs from Madness on vocals. Bette Bright and Margo Buchanan were on backing vocals with Cliff Slapper on keyboards. The bass player on Phil’s last few solo albums Yaron Stavi provided the low notes.
Andy Mackay’s son Percy joined the band on drums for Night Boat To Cairo and Do The Strand
Set
Sunny Afternoon
Baggy Trousers
LadyTron
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
Get Back
Kooks
Our House
Love Is The Drug
Clean up Woman
Mocking Bird
Whiter Shade of Pale
Jealous Guy
Night Boat To Cairo
Do The Strand
A FUTURE 7”/CD SINGLE? WHAT DO YOU THINK?
You may recall that in issue 893 we received an email from subscriber Michael Cowan, where he asked fellow fans for their views on a future 7”/CD single release in the run up to the next album launch.
In our first week we had responses from readers David Roberts and Mark Bryant. Last week it was the turn of subscriber Malcolm Stone. This week subscriber Stephen Sturrock gives us his two-penneth;
“On the subject of a future 7″ release. I would like to see a 12″ picture disc or coloured vinyl or how about a Mr Apples shaped picture disc and if they released it via Pledge Music too it would be guaranteed if they reached 100%. Just a thought!!!!!”
It does seem that there’s some interest in a physical single release, but the three responses we’ve received aren’t going to persuade the band and their management that it’s worthwhile.
Earlier this week subscriber Richard King contacted us to offer assistance in setting up a survey. This would be used to collect reader feedback regarding a a future release. When we’re ready to go live with this we’ll let you know.
In the meantime, if any further readers have opinions regarding a future CD/7” single release then please let us know.
Rob Hazelby
MIS FEATURE – RHODA ON THE LO TEK
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/rhodadakar
Following the critical acclaim of last year’s ’Rhoda Dakar sings The Bodysnatchers’ album (**** Mojo **** Rolling Stone **** Daily Mirror) Rhoda Dakar, former lead singer of 2 Tone’s The Bodysnatchers and The Special AKA, And regular Live Guest Singer with Madness.
She Is set to release a brand new series of recordings, starting with the September 2016 release of The LoTek Four, Vol I.
Each volume of the LoTek Four series takes four beautifully crafted songs and strips them back to their essence.
From there, recorded in the very best of surroundings, different versions can be engineered, versioneered, if you will.
It may be that a Rocksteady version is favoured, or perhaps an almost Acoustic rendering.
The songs draw on Rhoda’s rich and personal musical influences, with Volume I embracing a fantastic array of story tellers and versioneers
that include David Bowie, The Slits, Dolly Parton, Aretha, Gram and Emmylou, and her father, famed Jazz musician and entrepreneur
Rudy Evans aka André Dakar.
Alongside Rhoda Dakar on lead vocals, The LoTek Four Vol I features Louis Vause and Paul Tadman (from Crunch aka the Nutty Boys/Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra),
Lenny Bignell (Pama International), Mark Claydon (The Get Up) and saxophonist Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, The Blockheads, Madness, Tom Waitts, Spiritualized,
Siouxsie, Nick Cave and her old 2Tone label mates The Higsons).
…
In the campaign video Rhoda explains that the new songs, some have already been done live at the current shows and gone down well with the audiences.
Pledge now the campaign has instantly reached over 65% of it’s goal with over 60 days remaining to hit target.
CD and Vinyl and more options are open check them out at the above link.
More news when we know the song titles.
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 635 – Sunday 10th July – Saturday 16th July 2011
With Madness news being a bit thin on the ground at the moment we had a real mix of subject matter for you this week. Sure, we we’re covering all the new Madness info we could get our hands on, but this week were we’re also featuring a few articles covering The Blockheads and The Specials – two bands that you were probably also interested in.
We began with news in from Union Square Music, who revealed;
“On September 19th Salvo are releasing ‘A Guided Tour Of Madness’, a 4 disc anthology incorporating 70 songs (singles and album tracks) from their entire career, plus their classic performance at Madstock in 1992 on DVD.
I know this will be a welcome addition, as it’s only ever been available on VHS until now.
The set will also feature ‘Le Grand Pantalon’, which is only available as a download at the moment.”
We moved on to birthday news next, as Retro Madness had notched up a whopping two years, and were celebrating that with a number of special offers on four different concert programmes. Very nice!
Further on, and it was over to The Blockheads as we re-printed an article from the Burton Mail newspaper. Why were they covering the band? They were about to appear at the National Forest for a special performance.
We continued on with Madness news, and an official announcement from the official email list. The message read;
“We are very sorry to announce that the Northern Lights Music Festival 2011 has been canceled. To all those that supported the festival, thank you.
All tickets will be refunded at point of sale.
With very best wishes, the Northern Lights Team”
Following this it was on to The Specials as we featured a lengthy transcript of one of their articles “Ghost Town: The Song that Defined an Era Turns 30”;
“The Specials’ biggest hit was eerily prophetic about inner-city malaise in Thatcherite Britain in 1981 – and went to number one just as rioting erupted throughout the nation. Hugh Montgomery charts the story behind the song, while Paul Bignell and Mike Higgins speak to the key players”
We brought this issue to a close with the news that it had just been announced that Madness would be headlining Tamworth’s Ultra Sound festival, which was due to take place on Saturday and Sunday 3rd and 4th September.
10 years ago…
Issue 375 – Sunday 9th July to Saturday 15th July 2006
With the European Madness tour now in full swing, subscriber Suggsylia sent in her lowdown of the recent Tollwood Festival gig, where apparently fans were left waiting outside the tent where the the band were due to play, because of a storm! Thankfully the fans were eventually allowed in!
The following day saw the band perform at the Museumsplatz in Bonn, and German subscriber Matthias Ratz kindly donned his reporting hat to bring us the lowdown of just what went on that night.
Never ones to sit back and have a break, Jonathan Young and Paul Muscat had once again teamed up for another massive article. This time, the lads had decided to take us all on a virtual tour around the globe through the music of Madness. If you took a read you’d have soon discovered that it wasn’t as daft as it sounded.
Elsewhere in this issue you’d find that Chris Carter-Pegg had been hard at work in an effort to catalogue the items that were currently most sought after by Madness collectors. While Chris would never claim it to be a definitive list, we were pretty sure it was darned close!
15 years ago…
Issue 113 – Sunday 8th July to Saturday 14th July 2001
After the manic weekend many of you seemed to enjoy last week, and the subsequent `Blackpool Meet MIS Special` brilliantly put together by the right honourable Jonathan Young, this issue seemed positively tame in comparison.
It was nice to see that many people were already drumming up support for a 2002 Madmeet. We hoped that this would get off the ground and give those Maddies who weren’t able to get there for one reason or another a chance to get along.
There had been some excellent reviews of the weekend posted on The Total Madness Mailing List, but we decided to not include them in this issue as Jonathan had pretty much covered everything in the last MIS.
News in from Suggsylia was that `Planning Magazine`, a specialist magazine which cannot be bought in the shops had announced Madstock 2002. We recommended readers took this with a rather large pinch of salt until more was known. It was certainly unusual to hear of a Madstock approximately an entire year before it was due to take place.
On to this week’s articles, and we got things off the starting blocks with a blast from the past – all the way back to the 1st of July 1982, when Madness appeared at the ITV studios to play House of Fun, dressed in flower-power style summer shirts.
Later on in the programme they return to lip-sync to `Driving in my Car`, this time wearing white shirts and straw hats.
We went back to further Blackpool coverage next, as we featured a transcript of the letter Carl had asked to be read out to those attending the weekend.
With news thin on the ground we decided it was time to take a look at upcoming record fairs, courtesy of VIP Events. There were two small events coming to Bristol and Dudley in the coming months, but the ones that would interest the real collectors were the huge Wembley and Birmingham Academy shows.
Further Blackpool coverage continued, with Jon Young providing details of who won the various competitions and raffles that were held over the course of the event. Also, as a number of people had cameras, these would soon be appearing on Mark
Adamson’s web site.
The real exciting news was the big reveal that not only had all the weekend’s costs been covered, but £2300 had been raised for the CancerBacup charity.
We went over to Iaian Mason for the next article, and it was here that he explained that he was looking to produce a 12 or 16 page colour newspaper packed with photos and stories of the recent Blackpool event. What Iain needed at this stage was photos from those who attended.
We brought this issue of the MIS to a close with a tribute band date round-up for Badness and Complete Madness.
Rob Hazelby
TIME…
We bring this week’s issue of the MIS to a close with a couple of last minute snippets for your delight.
First-up it’s Dutch fan Dinant Dondertman….
“Madness on 5 December in Groningen is Sold Out!!! Didn’t expect this because a lot of people are celebrating Sinterklaas. Anyway I’m going, of course”
And to finish, here’s Simon Walshe…
“No doubt you will have heard/seen this, but as Madness geared up for their Saturday slot on Glastonbury, one of their tracks was getting the cover treatment in the BBC music tepee.
It Must Be Love was aired on the Chris Evans breakfast live on BBC Radio 2 on [the] Friday morning, performed by British country music band, Ward Thomas and is available here for the next month: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zbcyj
And with that, we’re done.
See you next week,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
(With thanks to Owen Collins, Dinant Dondertman and Simon Walshe)
The Author
