Sparks - The Simon Mayo Interview

Last week, Sparks gave a 22 minute interview to Simon Mayo on Radio 5, to promote their new album "Exotic Creatures of the Deep", and their 21x21 shows in London. I know a lot of people have been searching for it, and it's now gone from the 'listen again' feature. I managed to get an MP3 of it at the time, so for a limited time only, here is the full interview:



And while you're enjoying the interview, why not have a read of my reviews of the recent 21x21 shows. The Propaganda review is here, and the Hello Young Lovers review is here.

Piley

Sparks: Propaganda - Live Review

Sparks: Propaganda, Live at the Carling Academy, Islington, 20th May 2008.

Many thanks to photographer Tony Bartolo for allowing me to use some of his stunning photos for this review, and also for my Hello young Lovers review. More about Tony and his photos in the links section at the end of this article.


You've got to take your hats off to em.. no matter if you're a fan or not, the idea that Sparks came up with this year was simply astonishing…

They formed back in the late 60s as Halfnelson, and since then have put out 20 albums -- and just about every one of them is great too, in fact album number 20 (‘Hello Young Lovers’) is possibly my favourite album of theirs to date. Album 21 ‘Exotic Creatures of the Night’ was released on Monday, and to celebrate its arrival, Sparks announced a 21 night residency in London… yup you guessed it, all 21 albums, in order!

I know the 'album concert' is not a particularly new concept, but I can't think of anyone who’s taken it to such mammoth proportions as this. I can't even begin to imagine the logistical nightmare of attempting it -- I mean, with encores you're looking at over 250 tracks to rehearse. A feat even for the Mael brothers, but spare a thought for the brave backing band signed up for these shows, learning the lot from scratch!

When these shows were announced a few months back, I felt like a kid in a sweet shop as I looked longingly at the dates (and the lure of the 'Charlie and the chocolate factory’-esqe Golden Ticket, was truly tempting), but alas, I could only stretch to a couple of gobstoppers, so had to choose very carefully. Tonight was the first of my picks, Propaganda, and I was obviously in good company, as this was one of the first nights to sell out. I've been a fan of Sparks for about 30 years, and this album is the one I've come back to the most during that time – every single track is perfection, the production is fantastic, and it still sounds fresh as a daisy.

Ron and Russell Mael took to the stage just after 9 p.m., accompanied by a very young looking set of backing musicians… all sporting a uniform of black, topped off with a propaganda album cover T-shirt. We start off with the 30 seconds of acappella that is the title track 'Propaganda', which seamlessly blasts into 'At Home At Work At Play'… and we’re off! The first thing that hits you is just how energetic front man Russell remains, as he spins, swirls and treads every inch of the stage. What really pleases me is that it soon becomes apparent that this show is going to be a faithful reproduction of the album. I remember seeing Alice Cooper live in the 80s, ‘Schools Out’ was 15 minutes long, ‘Elected’ was 20 minutes long, the songs were no longer the tunes I knew, and it ruined it. But tonight, all the tracks are reassuringly familiar. There's maybe a slightly rockier feel to the guitar sound -- almost as though Slash had joined Sparks for the night! But other than that, it’s a time machine back to 1974.

I've been listening to this album for the vast majority of my life, yet tonight I see a different aspect to it, that I've never seen (or at least appreciated) before. I've never particularly considered it an anthemic album, yet tonight, hearing the crowd chant along with just about every track, I suddenly realised this is perfect pop, that lends itself beautifully to audience participation! We rattle through the album, and during the penultimate track 'Who Don't Like Kids', Ron Mael, who has kept his trademark stony face throughout, can contain himself no longer! And he takes centre stage to display the ‘Ron Rumba’, complete with fixed cheesy grin! He stops as suddenly as he began, looks all sheepish and then apologises profusely to the audience “it’ll never happen again" he promises… (well not till tomorrow night at least!). This is a great example of the humour of Sparks -- speak to the casual music fan, and they’ll describe Sparks as morose or painfully serious, yet they couldn't be more wrong. Read their lyrics, see them live, hear them interviewed, these are very funny guys!

'Bon Voyage' was always an appropriate track to finish the album, but it seems even more appropriate to finish the gig with, and the sea of waving and swaying arms make it the ideal curtain closer. After much persuasion, they reappear for an encore of ‘Lost and Found’ - b-side of ‘Amateur Hour’ and strictly speaking, more appropriate to last nights show!, but it’s a cracking song and nobody seems to be complaining!

All in all a great night, I’m not sure the sound was quite all it could have been – it was shocking in some parts of the room as I wandered round for a better view – but you couldn’t fault Ron and Russell, who put in as good a performance as I’ve ever seen them give… as Russell said this evening “only 17 left”!

Here's an audience video of that encore 'Lost and Found':



SPARKS RELATED LINKS:

Tony Bartolo is the only photographer in the world who took profesional photos of the whole 21x21 event. He has some very exciting projects under way, and you will soon be able to purchase some of his incredible work from the Sparks Spectacular. Be sure to keep watching his website - Snazmusic - for full details. Tony currently has a competition running to win a signed Sparks album cover... so be sure to check his site out here

If you enjoyed this review, why not check out my review of the Hello Young Lovers show here.

See my Introducing Sparks article here, containing exclusive comments from Ron and Russell Mael!

While you're here, don't miss my EXCLUSIVE, extensive interview with ex-Sparks member Martin Gordon, and he had plenty of interesting Sparks stories to tell! Part 1 is here and part 2 is here

See my interview with upcoming indie popsters Silvery here, where we had a long chat about all manner of Sparks related things!

To celebrate these shows and the new album, fellow Sparks fan Klitzfrug has put a fantastic 'goodie bag' of rare Sparks albums to download on his blog - no less than TEN albums in fact! Get over to his blog fetusveneris now, they won't be there forever! link to fetusveneris here

Piley

Marc Almond - Lavender

In my recent review of Marc live at Wilton's Music Hall, I mentioned the song Lavender, which at the show, was accompanied by a very striking slideshow, depicting a number of celebs and non-celebs alike, who in the past;

a) hid their sexuality for fear of losing their popularity (or just for fear); or

b) came out, and paid the consequences.

I've found that very slideshow, along with a demo version of Lavender. Have a look, and listen to the lyrics, it's pretty moving stuff.... oh, and note the two pictures of a young Marc that pop up in it too!

Lavender


Piley

Ghost World

One of my all-time favourite comic book stories is Ghost World by Daniel Clowes. Initially it was serialised in his own independent comic book 'Eightball', where it took almost 4 years (June 93 – March 97) and eight issues to tell the tale of Enid Coleslaw (the anoraks among you may be interested to note that Enid Coleslaw is an anagram of Daniel Clowes!) and her best friend Rebecca Doppelmeyer. Eventually it was pieced together as a graphic novel in the late 90s, where it found a much wider audience. This story is such a rare treat, and one I find I have to 'top up' on at regular intervals -- you know, like you have to do with those most favourite films…..

Although Dan Clowes writes and draws all his own stories, the real art of this piece is how the hell this middle-aged man managed to nail the thoughts and characterisations of these two teenagers so well! The dialogue is spot-on, and the relationship between the girls and their ‘friends’ is agonisingly real. Everyone goes through that awkward 'no longer a kid, not yet an adult' phase, and I guess that's why this book is so easy to relate to. It's one of those stories where, on the face of it, little happens, yet dig a little deeper and it's pretty much the whole of life, wrapped up in eighty odd pages.

High school friends Enid and Rebecca are two alienated and very opinionated girls, who know exactly what they don't like -- of course, like most teens, they are less sure what they do like, as the realisation of a directionless future hits them (ring any bells?!). The girls live in an un-named town, but you almost certainly live in it too (or at least very near it)… All the life has been sucked out, and all the character buildings, and things that used to personalise it and make it unique are being torn down, replaced with cinema complexes, theme diners and shopping malls. The girls seem to despair at the loss of their towns identity, and to me, this suggests where the stories title comes from - although Clowes has never really explained it, saying only that he once saw some graffiti on a wall containing the words. Enid and Rebecca’s dream had always been to quit school and achieve adulthood, yet when it finally comes, it slowly tears their friendship apart. The ending is left up to the reader to decide, but many believe there are enough signs in the last few pages to show that Enid commits suicide… I however like to go for the thought that Enid has gone in search of a new town that still has its soul.

It’s a thought provoking read – with a lot to say about throw-away society and the decay of our surroundings.

The first whiff I caught of Ghost World being made into a film was sometime in the late 90’s, and I was mortified. Hollywood doesn't have a good track record of adapting comic books at the best of times, let alone subtle, underground titles like this. I had visions of it being rewritten as an ‘American Pie’ style teen flick… ugh. On its release in 2001, I somehow managed to find a cinema in Essex actually showing it (admittedly only for one day), so my partner and I nervously attended the first showing. But against all the odds, one of my top three comic books became one of my top three films! The film (starring Thora Birch as Enid and an at the time little known Scarlett Johansson as Rebecca) faithfully reproduced the book, and the additional storylines (all written by Clowes) added to and complemented the original perfectly - particularly the decision to expand the ‘Seymour’ character, played to painful perfection by Steve Buscemi – in fact it was nominated for an Academy Award for the ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’.

Lately I’ve seen the DVD kicking around in HMV at the crazy price of £3… which really is too cheap for this little gem. If you see it around at that price snap it up, you won’t regret it. However, do yourself a favour and make sure you read the book 1st.

I've managed to track down the original trailer for the film, which gives a good flavour of this underrated quirky flick:






Piley

Marc Almond - Live Review

Marc Almond Live at Wilton's Music Hall, 3rd May 2008

Marc Almond is almost certainly the artist I've seen live the most. I have never kept count, but I'd guess it must be 60 or 70 times, maybe more… and every single one of those shows has been totally unique (and I almost guarantee that every one had a different set list - including the times I've seen him on consecutive nights). I doubt there are many artists who keep it fresh and interesting enough to warrant attendance that many times, yet after 25 years of seeing him live, Marc still remains the one ticket I look forward to more than any other.

When he had that near fatal motorbike crash back in 2004 (leaving him with a broken skull, broken shoulder, fractured ribs, perforated ear drum and collapsed lung), the outlook was bleak, and the best people were looking at was that he might just live. Ever performing again was out of the question – in fact whilst in a coma, he was at one point just hours away from a tracheostomy. Yet after dozens of operations and much rehabilitation, miraculously Marc returned to the stage last year, with his highly successful and emotional shows at Wilton's Music Hall. He followed these with some special ‘bigger venue’ shows to celebrate his 50th birthday.

This year though it was back to Willton's, for another sold-out run. Marc is a great one for sniffing out interesting venues to play in, and this must be the best yet. The last surviving grand music hall in the world, Wilton’s was a host to all manor of entertainment from the 1850s onwards, long before the event of the ‘old time music hall’ shows, for which it is most famously known. In its day, Wilton's used to cram 1500 people inside, an incredible thought, especially when you consider that today it has a licence to hold just 300! The venue is a pure delight – it’s faded glory and the crumbly decay of its décor are the perfect setting for Almond's songs of unrequited love, prostitution, seedy sex and the like.

Wilton's is a million miles away from the corporate hell of venues such as the O2 arena, Wembley, Hammersmith etc etc, with their sponsors, uniformed security, plastic burgers, plastic glasses and grumpy staff. Wilton’s is a step back in time in every sense…. the staff are very friendly and helpful, there appears to be no security at all, the bar is makeshift and the food is home-made Tapas! Marc has a real affinity with places such as this, and seems genuinely passionate about trying to help preserve these venues. As he wrote in the programme notes:

“Every day I see aspects of London's rich and wonderful history disappearing, lost for ever. When they go we lose a part of ourselves. Of course, we shouldn't live in the past, cities are amorphous and ever-changing but London is in danger of becoming a city of Glass and concrete, a temporary city. London is arguably the greatest city in the world with the greatest history and should protect its old and special places where people can feel a connection with the past. This gives the city a soul and therefore enriches our souls. The music halls such as Wilton’s are an important part of London's theatrical tradition and it pleases me that many of today's performers, tired of the more soulless corporate venues, are looking for alternative settings for their music. More modern venues have their place as state-of-the-art that are right for particular types of shows and performers and give a choice to audiences. They mustn't however, become the only choice.”

The venues tend to set the scene for Marc’s set lists, if it’s a bigger ‘stand up’ show, then you are likely to get more up-tempo songs, and maybe even a bit of Soft Cell thrown in, but when somewhere as intimate and atmospheric as Wilton’s is on the menu, you know you are in for a real treat. Marc always puts a lot of thought into his selection of songs, and his delve into the back catalogue for this show was no exception, bringing us a great selection of material from throughout his career. As always there was a smattering of some unrecorded gems -- and if the past is anything to go by, many will remain that way, making these events extra special.

Entwined within his own material is Marc's passion for the work of others, from Russian folk songs to Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel, from Richard Thompson to 1920's Music Hall (which has been brought into the set specifically for tonight's venue). He has a remarkable talent for taking these songs, injecting them with passion, intensity and reverence, and making them his own. The guy could sing nursery rhymes and I'd be welling up by the end!

The audience too completely understand the reverence of shows such as this. During the song 'Cosmic Boxer' he slowly walks around the auditorium, adding yet more intensity to the high drama of the song. Up close to their hero not a single person makes a grab for him, not one flash of a camera, not a single word uttered -- all you can hear is the quiet accompaniment of the band as Marc slowly and solemnly marches around the venue as though he were following a funeral parade. High art stuff, treated with the utmost respect.

One of the few songs to return from last years shows is Lavender. An emotional song about the trials and tribulations of being gay in less enlightened times. This time the song is given yet more poignancy as the slideshow behind Almond flashes up images of tortured stars forced to live a lie for fear of ruining their careers...

When returning from a gig, I normally start digging out a few CDs, to keep the buzz of the show going, but with Marc is not so easy. I've got a very comprehensive collection of his work, yet somehow after returning from one of his shows, nothing quite fits the bill. His knack for reinventing/reinterpreting his own songs means the ones you own are completely different versions to the one’s you're now craving, and many of the new songs and covers you've just heard have never been recorded. He's one artist who could get away with releasing pretty much every live show on CD, and it's no wonder that there is such an interest in bootleg recordings of these events, as fans clamour for what is sometimes his only rendition of certain songs.

I hope that these Wilton's shows are becoming an annual tradition, as there really is no one better to keep the spirit of this special venue alive.

EXTRAS

Marc's Stardom Road album made my 'Best of 2007' list, you can read my review here

Visit Wilton's on the Web and find out more about this amazing piece of history

Visit the Official Marc Almond Website here

The below audience video is actually from one of last years shows at Wilton's, Marc performing one of his best (yet still unreleased!) recent songs, the aforementioned Lavender:


Piley

Eartha Kitt... Purr' fect

It was great to see Eartha Kitt back on our TV screens at the weekend, performing live on Jools Holland’s show. At the age of 81 she appeared very sprightly, and in considerably better nick than yours truly!

Like most people around my age, I guess the first time I really became aware of her was as Catwoman in the 70’s reruns of Batman. My father informed me at the time that she was a singer, but I don't think I heard any of her songs until the early 80’s. Unfortunately, her 80’s output was not a true reflection of her work -- as this was the time of a bizarre effort to reinvent Ms Kitt as a disco/Hi NRG act! Almost 60 at the time, I doubt she was particularly comfortable about being marketed as the next Divine, Hazel Dean or Dead or Alive, but she gave it her best shot and even had a couple of hit singles on the trendy Hi-NRG label Record Shack (‘Where Is My Man’ and ‘I Love Men’). There was even an odd collaboration with Bronski Beat (Cha Cha Heels) a little while later…man, the 80s has a lot to answer for…

I knew Eartha had been a big influence on some of the artists I enjoyed, particularly Marc Almond, so I picked up a greatest hits, which on the face of it, seem to do the trick… and that was it for 10 years or so! Then a few years back, while driving to Dorset on holiday late one Friday night, we found ourselves struggling for something to listen to. The CD player was broken, and there was nothing on the radio (how come radio is so bad on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings anyway?!). In desperation we went with BBC Radio 2 and their cheese-fest ‘Friday Night Is Music Night’! This was followed by a documentary on Eartha Kitt, which was nothing short of riveting. What a life this lady has led..

Born in South Carolina in 1927, and abandoned soon after, she was brought up by neighbours, who at the age of six had her cleaning, cooking, gardening, cotton picking, tending cows and many other chores. A chance meeting with a dancer (who had stopped Kitt to ask for directions!) Led her to auditioning for a dance school, and by the age of 16 she was touring the world with them. Sheer determination saw her branch and out to become a singer in the late 1940s. She was dogged by racism throughout the 40s, 50s and 60s, and unbelievably, even her first record label (RCA) tried to scupper her career by making her release the song 'Uska Dara’ as a single. In true Mel Brooks ‘Producers’ style, they were convinced this song, sung completely in Turkish, would be a surefire flop, giving them an ideal excuse to fire her from the label. Delightfully the single was a surprise hit, and RCA were forced to see out their contract.

Unlike the tedious WAGs, models and dullards who just seemed to be famous for being famous, for whom releasing an autobiography is a yearly affair, Eartha Kitt is one of the few who actually warrants the three autobiographies she has written. I have them all, and can highly recommend them if you can track them down.

Anyway I digress, back to that radio show… Interspersed with her story and interview, a number of lesser-known tracks were played (lesser known to me that is! All that really means is they weren't on that greatest hits CD I bought!). These tracks were simply stunning, and much more interesting than many of the 'safer' tracks chosen for the best of album. Even to me in the 21st century, these songs sounded exotic and worldly -- what must they had seemed like 50 years ago? How incredibly exciting these songs must have sounded back then, in comparison with her contempories such as Doris Day, Connie Francis and Rosemary Clooney.

I decided that I must pick up some of her albums, but much like my attempt to catch up on Barry Ryan, nothing was available. Just like Ryan, you get pages of CDs when you search, but they are all different ‘Best Ofs’ and ‘Greatest Hits’, containing pretty much the same tracks.

Over Christmas I read a couple of reviews in the Sunday supplements praising the CD release of Eartha’s second album ‘That Bad Eartha’ (still no sign of her first album though!). A quick scoot round the web informed me that in the USA, this release also had her third album ‘Down To Eartha’ squeezed on, so no prizes for guessing which version I went for!

On its arrival I played little else, completely mesmerised by the cosmopolitan feel, with songs sung in English, French, Turkish and Swahili. Both albums sound remarkably fresh, the arrangements are beautiful and there is an exotic, over the top feel throughout. Add to this her genuinely unique vocal sound, and it is easy to see just how Marc Almond must have been influenced by her work.

Still performing at the age of 81 (how I would have loved to go to one of her shows in London last week, but the £95 price tag rather put the kybosh on that one), Eartha Kitt is one of the last true larger-than-life legends. Yet criminally, unlike many of her counterparts, her place as an immortal music legend is far from sealed. With so little of her material available to buy, there must be a real danger that in 10 or 20 years time, she could be all but forgotten as an important singer, largely responsibly for changing the attitudes of record companies and buyers alike back in less enlightened times... I sincerely hope I am proved wrong.

Listen to Uska Dara from 'That Bad Eartha' here:


Listen to 'The Heel' from 'Down to Eartha' here (Marc Almond did a cover of this track some 30 years later):


Here is Eartha performing I Want To Be Evil (also from That Bad Eartha):



And finally, Eartha performing 'Aint Misbehavin' with Jools Holland last week:


Piley

Killing Me Softly...

I’ve thought long and hard about this post, but I'm going with it anyway! I just hope my bloggin’ licence isn’t revoked as a consequence… I mean, exactly where do you start with a review of a murderers music career anyway?!

Charles Manson’s first recordings were made in 1967 -- 2 years before the atrocities he and his 'family' carried out. At the age of 33, he'd already spent more than half of his life in juvenile detention centres and prisons (mainly on charges of burglary), but it was whilst he was incarcerated in the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island between 1960 and 67, that Alvin "Creepy" Karpis (a former member of Ma Barker's gang) taught Manson to play guitar.

On his release in March 67, Manson set his mind on ‘going straight’ and becoming a musician, and travelled to San Francisco to do just that. Soon he had the interest of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson and producer Terry Melcher (the son of Doris Day), who set up a recording session for Manson to make some demos. He recorded more demos in 68 (again with Wilson), but there was little interest in his material, and Manson soon became disillusioned with the whole idea. Bizarrely, it is the snub from the music industry that is actually cited as a possible motive for the Tate\LaBianca murders (8th and 9th Aug 69), revenge on the entertainment industry as a whole, for not furthering his musical career.

All of his demos from the 60s have been reissued numerous times (most famously the 68 session was released as Lie: The Love & Terror Cult in 1970, to finance his murder trial), but after his life imprisonment sentence in 1971 you’d think that would be the end of it. Yet believe it or not, Manson’s recording career took an even more sinister twist (if that's possible!) after this point, as incredibly, over the last 37 years, he has continued to release numerous albums of prison recordings ‘from the inside’ (the most recent in 2005)…. Even Amazon are known to carry a few of his albums, and some of his rare releases command big money on eBay.

There is (rightly) some unease about listening to these recordings -- and almost certainly some double standards too… would I be interested in hearing the musical talents of Ian Huntley or Myra Hindley perhaps? A resounding NO, yet if you can get over the main hurdle that you're listening to a murderer (a rather large hurdle granted!), his 60’s material is surprisingly good. Like a warped Dylan, he sings acoustic psychedelic/blues/folk songs with a real (albeit deranged) passion, with comparisons to anything from a young Willie Nelson or Hank Williams to Arlo Guthrie, Don McLean or even Art Garfunkel… yes really!. He actually has quite a good voice, his lyrics are heartfelt and his guitar playing is impressive. Yes, hours of subversive fun await you, playing it to all your unsuspecting elderly relatives, asking them to “guess the singer”!

The man and the crimes he carried out have all been judged, and I have nothing but contempt for them... but is it possible for his music to be judged seperatly?? Can you dispise the man yet enjoy the music? If only those albums really were a young Willie Nelson, I’d be guilt free!! As it is my only crumb of consolation comes from the fact that I’m only really interested in the 60’s recordings, and they were at least recorded prior to him becoming a viscous mass murderer!!

It’s also interesting to note just how many artists have covered Manson’s material over the years, The Lemonheads, Red Cross, Beach Boys, Guns n Roses, The Brian Jonestown Masacre and Marilyn Manson have all recorded his songs over the years... I wonder who the royalties go to??!

If you're curious, but don't feel it’s right that Manson (or anyone else for that matter) should profit from the sales of his albums, I can offer you the nearest you're likely to get to a 'guilt free' listen. A fellow Blogspot blogger has set up 'Manson Music', where you can download almost every album for free (including all the 67 and 68 demos).

Manson Music Blog


A much lighter post next time... promise!


Piley

The Psychedelic Soul of Charlie Salvidge

I'm investigating new music all the time, but sometimes you do wonder if everything is starting to become a bit mediocre… or worse, perhaps you're losing the knack for spotting something a bit special. Then, right on cue, something like this turns up, the ‘ol Spidey sense immediately starts tingling and confirms that your quality control switch was set just right all along!

A chance conversation a couple of weeks back put me on to Charlie and his work. I got in touch with him, he sent me his demo CD and I was immediately impressed. Listening to his demos, you know he's done his homework, and has an incredible understanding of music. We've all heard artists that are so influenced by something or someone, that they just end up sounding like a poor imitation. Charlie (22) has risen above all that though, he's soaked up classic 60s material (from the likes of the Beach Boys, the Pretty Things, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Nazz, 13th Floor Elevators and much much more) dissected it, digested it and come up with something new. This is no Austin Powers style 'tongue in cheek' pastiche, this is serious stuff which on one hand manages to sound new and fresh, yet is also reminiscent of so many of Charlie's influences. Imagine the Byrds with Hendrix on guitar, or the 'Head' era Monkees jamming with a 60’s Status Quo.

Of the nine tracks on his demo CD, only two have the polished finish of the studio (complete with authentic 60s production values), yet it matters little. The remaining seven (all recorded on his home PC) have a raw charm, and the quality of his material shines through. I was keen to find out more about Charlie, and he kindly filled in some blanks for me….

What instruments do you play?
Mainly guitar, a bit of bass, some elementary keyboard and a sprinkling of drums.

Listening to your songs, you’ve obviously got a great knowledge of music. What first go you into that 60’s psychedelic sound?
I grew up listening to my Dad's record collection, which consisted mainly of ex Radio Bristol singles he'd 'borrowed' from his work. It was really only the obvious things like Strawberry Fields & Pictures Of Matchstick Men that made an early impression on me. I was so naive I didn't realise there were any other groups who'd done songs in a psychedelic vein until we went on a school trip to Stratford On Avon. The Shakespeare play we saw was pretty dull but on that trip I bought an Uncut magazine which had a free CD with things like Tomorrow's 'My White Bicycle' and Dantalian's Chariot's 'The Madman Running Through The Fields'. I got it home, had a listen & thought 'Blimey!'

You list dozens of influences, but if you had to choose, who has influenced you the most and why?
It's always an easy choice to say the Beatles but for me I think it's true. They're really the only band who ever had a consistently high standard of work, my favourites are all the great B sides & album tracks that often get overlooked; I'll Cry Instead, Rain, If I Needed Someone... the less poppy ones which are perhaps a tad more experimental. It's only been in the last 2 years that I've been scratching the surface of the wealth of rare 60s & 70s stuff that's out there - discovering crazy underground stuff and bands who never quite made it big at the time like Pandemonium, July, Wimple Winch, Mike Stuart Span - They were all so ahead of their time and I always wonder what sort of people originally went out and bought their singles. At the time they were all just pop groups that would release one flopper of a single on Deram or something, make no money and go back to working on a building site. Perhaps it's only now that we can fully appreciate their inventiveness in the current musical climate.

How do you approach song writing? Is it a tune 1st or some words? How do you work?
It varies, often I'll be drifting off to sleep at night and get a tune in my head, it's weird sometimes because I can actually hear a complete sound - the band playing and everything, so I'll get up and find the chords or the line and record it quickly. Then when I'm writing a new tune and it needs another bit, I can listen back to the bits I've come up with and slot one into the song if it fits. The other way it happens is when I hear some amazing track and think "I'll write one like that!" I try not to rip things off but I think there are a few songs of mine that are obviously inspired by about 4 separate classics.

How many songs have you written to date?
I'd say about 10 really good ones, another 15 half decent ones, and many others lying around unfinished. Sometimes you get a great idea, write a few verses & think, 'hmm, this is crap actually' then it just lies dormant awaiting the day it can be re-vamped, or turned into a paper aeroplane.

You’ve recorded demos of 9 tracks, two of them you did in a studio, how did that go?
The studio tracks I actually recorded in my mate Dave's garage in Gloucester, which was handy as I only had to pay him £20 a time. He's got all the studio gear up in his room with a multicore cable running downstairs through the hallway and into the garage. The acoustics in there obviously aren't typical of most studios but all the eggboxes, bikes and washing machines give the sound some interesting characteristics. Actually we put an extra mic on top of the washing machine in the hallway for the drum break in 'Change In You' and I think it sounds pretty good! I wanted to experiment a bit more - a lot of bands in the sixties for example might have only used two mics on the drums, one for the bass & one for the snare, and sometimes you can get a better effect that way. One of the challenges was to try and make the tracks sound authentic and I think we achieved the desired effect despite doing it all on computer.

How many of the instruments did you play on those tracks?
I'm pretty sure I played everything apart from the bass on Harris Tweed and the flute solo on Change In You, both played expertly by Dave Poyser. We used his family piano & a battered old Philips Philicordia organ too!

What can you tell me about the tracks Harris Tweed and Change In You?
I wrote them both in late 2006, Harris Tweed is about the old dilemma of looking a state but having to leave the house to go to work, then being looked down upon by the upper classes and 'straights' of this world - but ultimately not really caring anyway. I suppose the tune itself is 'Hey Joe' inspired, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. So many people have said to me how they can't believe it's a modern track. One of my friends was saying when he first heard it he was looking it up on the internet to see if it was an old unknown psych song from the sixties! Listening to it now I can see what he means, I just tried to make the production sound authentic, ADT* on the vocals, phasing on the drums etc.

*ADT - Artificial Double Tracking, a method used in recording studios in the sixties whereby the output signal from one tape machine is fed back in with a slight delay to create the illusion of two separate vocal tracks.

Change In You is a homage to that sunny West Coast Byrds sound, but some people say it sounds Lennon-ish too. It's just another of them 'girl trouble' sort of numbers. I had about 5 acetate 45s of it cut with a cover of the In Crowd's 'Blow Up' on the B side.

Do you have a live set up?
At the moment I'm getting a band together with Uygar Sen (guitar) and Jake Gladman (bass), they're both top musicians and great guys to hang out with, we don't have a permanent drummer at the moment so we've just been rehearsing and going through songs, tightening them up and so forth. As soon as we get a drummer and feel we're ready, we're going to start the gigging & recording. We already have had a lot of promising praise and a lot of mates who are in established bands on the scene seem eager to hear what we can do.

So what’s in the pipeline for you?
I don't want to reveal too much but look out for a limited edition Harris Tweed 7" very soon...

Where do you see yourself in a years time?
With a bit of luck, with a recording contract and making a bit of money. Should that not happen I just want to hang around the periphery of the London music scene and edge my way into the industry to work in some capacity.

Top 5 albums you’d take to a desert Island?
I'd have to say I couldn't live without Sgt. Pepper, David Bowie's Hunky Dory, The Piper at The Gates of Dawn, The Magic Rocking Horse and the first Nazz album - an album I rarely listen to because it makes me frustrated of it's perfection. But I've thought about this before and all the records would melt anyway. I think I'd rather just take a piano and teach myself Debussy's Claire-De-Lune over a prolonged period of time.

So there you go, I think Charlie Salvidge is a really exciting prospect, but why not check him out for yourself, as he’s kindly allowed me to post two of his songs right here. Do yourself a favour and give em a go, and if you're one of the growing band of subscribers to Start The Revolution Without Me, do please pop over to the site for a listen, I’d hate you to miss out!


HARRIS TWEED:



CHANGE IN YOU:


Visit Charlie's MySpace page here

Thanks to Charlie for the interview.

Piley

Shaun Tan - The Arrival

I've mentioned before that I am a long-time comic fan. As young as five years old, I remember my father bringing home comics for me on a Saturday evening after a days work (usually titles such as the Beano, Dandy or Beezer). By the time I was 9 or 10 I was off to the newsagent every Saturday morning with my pocket money at the ready, eager for the latest editions of the large number of British comics available at that time (Whoopee, Whizzer and Chips, Buster, Monster Fun, Krazy etc etc). Not long after that I discovered superhero comics and added Spiderman, Batman, Hulk, Captain Britain and more to my ever expanding list.

Comics played such an important part in my childhood, and it saddens me that the great institution of the British comic is now all but dead. Pop into your local WH Smith's and you'll see dozens of comic titles, but they are all now TV related ones (Simpsons, Shaun the sheep, Sponge Bob, Thomas the Tank Engine etc). Although barely recognisable from their heydays, the Beano and Dandy are still there… just. Clinging on for dear life with an ever reducing readership (consisting mainly of adults keeping up their childhood addiction), but I fear the end is in sight for them both.

I'm sorry that my son won't have the thrill of those weekly titles containing the adventures of a dozen or more regular characters -- and what about those Christmas annuals?! Always top of my list for Santa every year! I still maintain it was comics that really got me excited about reading, and books.

Since my childhood, I think I've only ever had one big falling out with the comic medium -- the obligatory split around 16/17 years old, when you decide comics are for kids, "and I'm not a kid!". Ironically, visit any American comic book shop these days, and you'll notice an incredible amount of the titles on display are marked "for mature readers only" -- yup, even the comic book has now grown up (in America at least).

The sheer number of US comics is mind-boggling -- maybe 70 or 80 titles released every single week. By default a lot of these are mediocre to say the least, and my enthusiasm for comics does go up and down as a result. These days, superheroes are probably my least favourite type of comic, and I concentrate on real-life stories by the likes of Harvey Pekar, Dan Clowes, Adrian Tomine, Joe Sacco, Terry Moore, Jeffrey Brown, Kyle Baker, The Hernandez Brothers, Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell etc, but these gems are few and far between.

I guess one criticism I have of the current comic industry is that it has all become a bit safe and formulaic. Enter Shaun Tan – a 34 year old Australian artist who for the last 10 or 12 years has been writing and drawing children's storybooks. He suddenly decides he'd like to try his hand at a graphic novel, despite having never even read one! Freed of the chains of comic book protocol, Tan has broken the mould and re-written the graphic novel formula. And never has the word 'graphic novel' been more apt too, as apart from its title -- The Arrival -- it contains not a single word of dialogue, yet it says more than any of the titles currently on the shelf. It's is a thought-provoking and moving story about immigration, and as there are no words, I can't say for sure the period the story is set in, however I'd guess it’s around the 1950s.

Starting in the homeland of the central character, you experience his anguish, as he makes a heart wrenching decision to leave his family, and go in search of a better life for them. Tan’s background in children's books means he has learnt to use pictures to describe stories, and he expertly conveys the oppression and fear that has gripped the country they are so desperate to flee. The character takes a boat to a foreign land, and this is where the book really comes into its own…. A number of reviews have described this book as 'surrealist', and whilst the drawings do take an odd slant at this point, the reason behind it is pure genius. Experiencing this new world (which I think may be New York, but I can't be sure) is confusing, lonely and scary to our man, and by using a surrealist style to draw this new city, its inhabitants and machinery, you actually get to experience these feelings too.

At one point, the central character needs to travel further afield, and in order to do so, is faced with a bizarre looking object full of leavers, dials and funnels. He stands completely perplexed by this alien machine, until a kind-hearted passer by operates the machine for him. This was the point where I first ‘got it’, as it instantly reminded me of foreign holidays where simple tasks like buying a bus or train ticket, suddenly become the most stressful situations imaginable! The book continues in this vein as our man struggles to find a place to stay, food and work. The story grips you from start to finish, as he desperately tries to carve out a future for his family.

With The Arrival, Shaun Tan has instantly created one of my all time favourite books (of any medium), and completely rejuvenated my interest in graphic novels a result. I’ve been through it maybe 15 times already, each time spotting something new. The artwork is without doubt the best I’ve ever seen in any comic\graphic novel, and the story brings out just about every emotion.

If you've always avoided comics, thinking they are 'low rent' or 'kids stuff', but you like great stories, great story telling and incredible artwork, this intelligent book is likely to change your opinion forever.

You can buy The Arrival here at Amazon, or just check out yet more glowing reviews!

Visit the Official Shaun Tan Website here

Piley

The Costal Town, That They Forgot To Close Down..

Sang Morrissey 20 years ago on his second solo single 'Everyday is like Sunday'. Potentially it could have been about any antiquated resort by the sea, but as the whole video was shot in Southend, I got the hint. And you know what? I think ol Mozza may have had a point.

This post was going to be a review of 'local lad done good' Jake Shillingford’s live return to Southend after over 20 years… but after attending the show last night and witnessing the shocking turn out (I counted 32), I'm up for a moan on the continual apathy of music fans in South East Essex instead…

Strangely enough, this part of the world has a pretty good record for producing local talent. In the 70’s it was the Southend\Canvey Island Pub Rock scene that discovered the likes of Dr Feelgood, Wilko Johnson, Eddie and the Hot Rods and the Kursaal Flyers. In the 80’s Basildon spawned Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Alison Moyet. Recent successes from Southend have been These New Puritans, The Horrors and Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. However, like Jake, I imagine that in order to find success, they all learned one important lesson -- get out of town!

I can't speak for the 70s, but I've been going to live shows in the area for about 25 years. There has been the odd rammed show from time to time, but on the whole I’d have to say attendance has often been on the quiet side – no matter who the artist. A friend of mine was the promoter for a local club in the late 80s and brought some of the cream (at that time) of the indie scene to the venue. And whilst these same bands were selling out around the rest of the country, my friend lost money on just about every show (incidentally, he too had to leave Southend in order to become a successful promoter!).

20/25 years ago Southend had some great little clubs and live venues, today there is almost nothing -- and that's despite it now being a university town, flooded with students. However it's not difficult to understand why so many of these venues have disappeared over the years, as for almost 3 decades the occupants of the town have not supported live music in great enough numbers. I'm not saying people should be frog-marched into the nearest live show, but if people want live music on their doorstep, then there's only one way to ensure it keeps coming.

Just three months ago Jake (with his band My Life Story) was playing to 1500 people at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, tonight (31st March) he continues his solo tour in Portsmouth and it's already sold out, so how come the return to his roots was so poorly attended? On this occasion it may not entirely be the fault of the locals. The advertising for this show was shocking! I live here, and had it not been for MySpace, I doubt I'd have known it was on either. Not a single poster anywhere in town, and it was even missing from the venues leaflet of upcoming shows.

Armed with a 12 string guitar and Toni Krause on keyboards, Jake gave those who did turn up at night to remember. He performed stripped down versions of songs right through his 20+ year career. All three My Life Story albums were touched upon, as was material from his electronic project Exile Inside. There was also plenty of new material from his debut solo album. A great night out, and a chance to catch up with a few old faces… but I won’t hold my breath for his next return to Southend!

You can watch Jake and Toni performing at an earlier date on this acoustic tour here, with the My Life Story song 'If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?'

Exclusive Martin Gordon Interview - Part 2

The final part of my exclusive interview with Martin Gordon is below.
If you missed Part one, you can view it here


In the 70s, being in the charts was a really big deal -- I don't think it is anymore -- how much difference did it make when you had a hit single?

Well, I discovered you can get people to go to bed with you much easier if you have a record in the charts.

You’ve had a few connections with Marc Bolan in your career, both direct and indirect. You worked extensively with Andy and Chris (who both worked with Bolan in John's Children), and the Radio Stars even appeared on Marc’s TV show, what was he like? Did you ever get a glimpse of him outside of his ‘larger than life’ character?

It was just post fat-period when we were on his show. He was kind of jolly and bouncy and I remember him being very nice, very articulate, but then if you're hosting a TV show that’s called by your name, I guess you can afford to be very gracious. Whether that was the real Marc I met or not I don't know, but he was very nice.

You can watch that Radio Stars performance on Marc Bolan's TV show here:



After you split with the Radio Stars, you went to Paris to work as a producer for Barclay Records. The story goes that the Rolling Stones were rehearsing/recording nearby so you wandered along to try and blag some free booze!!

Well. the guitarist from the band I was producing knew somebody on the Stones road crew, and we wandered along to see what might develop.

Well, the God of music must have been on your side, because your visit coincided with Bill Wyman doing a 'no show' and you got an instant promotion from freeloader to Rolling Stones bass player!

Well, not instant, no. There was a series of rooms that you had to go through -- something like an imperial court. You had the outer ring with the ‘hoi polloi’ and then once you were accepted there you moved one ring in, and slowly over the course of the evening, amazingly, we ended up sitting in the studio with the guys and they were moaning… and by that time of course I was rather buoyant and I said "you haven't got a bass player? I'm your man!". So Jagger showed me these chords and I remember sitting down and he said "it goes like this, got it?" And all of a sudden I'm playing bass for them.

How long did it last? Was it just for that day?

No, it was a few days. Amazingly, they asked me if I would go back, so I did. I remember at one point, listening to a Ronnie Wood solo from inside the control room, with Wood on one side of me and Jagger on the other. Jagger turned to me and said "what do you think of that?". In earlier times I might have been a little less diplomatic, but I said "Oh, it was great, great, fantastic".

Can you remember what songs you played with them?

No, there's a Stones web site which lists all the tunes they’ve ever recorded, day by day, location, engineer, additional overdubs etc and it appears on that.

But nothing you recorded with them ever got released I assume?

Not as far as I know. Apparently they have this thing of recording hours and hours of stuff and then they might go back and use something from two years ago and rework it into something else. So I don’t know, but I certainly don't recognise anything.

And what did Bill make of it?!

Oh, we never met.

When you came back from Paris, you started Blue Meanies. But there was only one release, a single 'Pop Sensibility'. How come it was also brief?

Well, it was more for pleasure really. We didn't really have a concept, it was just a thing that happened. But it could have been quite good, some of the tunes we did as Blue Meanies ended up on my first solo album and everybody said they were great, so we must have had something. If anybody had had the foresight to allow us to develop for a year or so, it might have been quite good.
Recently there's been an i-Tunes only release of 20 odd Blue Meanies tracks. What's the story with this material? Was it recorded for an unreleased album?

It's all mostly demos. High-quality ones, that ultimately would have gone to make up an album.

In recent years you've worked with some big artists as a musician and producer.. Blur, Primal Scream, even Kylie Minogue.

Yeah, different things with different people. For Blur it was as a keyboard player, for Primal Scream it was as remixer, for Kylie I was mimer of cheeseboards and hoister of Kylie onto a piano at the NME awards. It was a grand piano and I had to lift her up onto it, and then she crawled towards me as I was playing. She was wearing this red bustier thing, very low-cut too, it was a good job I was only miming really…

You can see Martin trying admirably to keep his eyes on the keyboard here!



You now live in Germany, what made you choose that location?

Sausages! I love sausages, and Germany is the home of the sausage, it could be wurst…

Do you see yourself ever returning to the UK?

No, I have a small boy, he is a Berliner, he speaks German.

What do you think of the UK now when you come back to visit?

It's nice to visit, but I couldn't bear to live here anymore -- it's so incredibly expensive. But it's multi-cultural, Germany isn't, it is absolutely mono-cultural. There are at least a lot of possibilities here, and while it may not be working very well, it's working better than it is in Germany. There you have houses being burned down, East German right-wing fascists killing people in the streets and chasing Indians.

Bizarrely, it wasn't until the turn of the 21st century that you finally got round to starting a solo career! How come it took so long?

I didn't want to rush it! Didn't want to overdo it. Well, really the reason is singing. It's always a problem finding a singer, and it wasn't until I found Pelle Almgren that the solo work took shape. Pelle was a Jet fan, he sent me an e-mail -- he told me he was a songwriter, he didn't tell me he was a singer. So we met up in Stockholm, and we wrote some songs, and then he said "okay, shall I sing them now?" And I said "Oh, you can sing as well?". And he just had this incredible voice, and I thought “fuck”. Instantly I started thinking about the stuff I’d been designing for my solo album and I said "I'll come back in three months, with a pile of songs. Book a studio!", and he said "oh yeah, great".

You've done four solo albums to date -- all part of the Mammal Trilogy (!). Intelligent, catchy guitar pop. I hear so many different things in your solo work, and there's definitely a nod to English musical hall in there. Blur dabbled with that sound a lot around the time of Modern Life Is Rubbish….

Yeah, music hall is a common source, I think. I researched it, bought lots of CDs and it's great. Actually it’s not too far away from what I do -- populist music that you can listen to and sing along with even if you don't quite 'get' it.

Ever been to Wilton's music hall?

I used to live round the corner from there. I went to a party there once, but I've never seen a performance. I have a notion to do a modern Gilbert and Sullivan piece, and I keep saying that Wilton’s would be the ideal place to do it. In fact, tonight we are doing what could be the germ of that idea.

You have included some well-chosen cover versions on your solo albums, putting your own stamp on them in the process. How do you go about choosing the right cover, are they songs you feel would suit the album or just songs you like?

I think it has to be a song that I like, but also a song that will do the job, showing what you do in the context of a familiar piece of music. There are certainly songs that I like that wouldn't be suitable covers. I've tried covers that haven't been finished because they didn't work.

Any future covers lined up?

Well, every album will have some, but I haven't decided yet. At one point, I was trying ‘Tiny Demons’ by Todd Rundgren, and I think I might revisit that.

So you're working on the fifth part of the trilogy then?!

Yes, I’ve just started it. Trying lots and lots of things, and throwing half of them away. I think the more you can throw away the better -- for the last album I had about 25 tunes, so I'm beginning that whole process again, it will go on for some time.

Finally, a quick fire round… Had you ever considered writing an autobiography?

Check the website.

Proudest moment of your career?

Making my solo debut in Boston last August. Outside the venue was "Martin Gordon", and somebody had climbed up on top, and in chalk had written "(!!!)", which I thought was very ambiguous. But then I thought, fuck, it's me, finally!

Lowest point of your career?

Probably being fired from Sparks actually. It was 4 o’clock in the morning, I’d come home from celebrating my new-found celebrity, and was phoned up by some minion, that late: "Hello Martin, how are you? Oh good. You're not in the group anymore, anyway goodbye". That abruptly, it was quite shocking, really.

What's your most rock 'n' roll moment?

I don't really do rock ‘n’ roll moments. We were talking about this the other day. Steve the drummer has come over from Boston, and I think he was expecting us all to be like members of Aerosmith or that kind of thing. And we're all well-brought up middle-class English people, we don't really do rock ‘n’ roll moments. Chris Townson and I once pulled up a flower bed when we were pissed, and we got arrested and locked up in Bow Street, and had to appear in front of a magistrate… not very rock ‘n’ roll though, is it?

Who do you admire in music?

Todd Rundgren -- Todd is God! He's very consistent, his last stuff is as good as his first, he's a real hero.

Any current bands that excite you?

Yes, Niacin. They are an American prog jazz rock trio with Billy Sheehan on bass, Dennis Chambers on drums and John Novello on keyboards.

How about Silvery?

Yes, very nice. We were going to do something together, I did some mixes for them but it didn't work out. It's a bit difficult communicating e-wise, it’s much easier if you're sitting in the same room as somebody, and we were doing everything by e-mail. But no hard feelings, they have some very nice songs, very funny, similar in a way to the stuff I'm doing -- quite poppy. I mean, there are a lot of grown-ups about, and they need pop music, let's face it.

Who would you most like to work with?

I’d love to work with Todd Rundgren, but it would be completely fruitless because he does it all himself, and he’d just tell me what to do.

What one record would you take with you to a desert island?

The Mahavishnu Orchestra live in Munich 1972. I've just recently got a soundboard recording of it. It's two hours long and I've listened to it every day for two months and I still haven't tired of it.


So there you have it, the final piece of the interview, and that brings to a close what has fast become 'Martin Gordon March'! Once again, Many thanks Martin for your time earlier this month, it was much appreciated.

Piley

LINKS:

The Official Martin Gordon website

See the Rolling Stones 'Complete Works' database here - click on 1979 to view Martin's entry (ref: 790621A)

Exclusive Martin Gordon Interview - Part 1

Martin Gordon has packed a lot into his 30+ years in the music business. From Glam to Punk to perfect 80’s pop to an accomplished solo career, he’s done it all (see my earlier Martin Gordon review here for more info!). Linking all these together is his distinctive bass sound and an ever-present talent for writing intelligent, quirky and original songs. Add to this a brief stint as a Rolling Stone and working with the likes of Blur, Primal Scream, Boy George and George Michael and you’ve got a very full and varied career... One I've been itching to find out more about for some time!

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to meet up with Martin in London for an exclusive chat. An enormously engaging interviewee, he was happy to talk about every aspect of his career, and I found him incredibly honest and candid. It turned into quite a lengthy chat, so below is the first part of this two part interview.


First things first, what instruments do you play, and when did you start learning them?

I play bass, all manner of keyboards, and guitar fairly crudely. I started learning at around 10 or 11 years old with piano and classical guitar lessons at school. And from classical guitar I ended up playing bass, it was a direct link. I think it was piano first, that’s what I really wanted to play, but it needed to be taught differently. In those days they didn't use the Suzuki method, you didn’t learn how to play a tune, and it was very frustrating, so I moved on to classical guitar, something I could directly play.

Who were your musical influences as a child, who made you want to be a musician?

I remember being completely obsessed with all things Jack Bruce. These days I can analyse it in a way that I couldn't back then - I see him as a very accomplished singer, a very accomplished arranger and a very accomplished composer -- and incidentally a bass player too. You can't really make a career out of just being a bass player, you have to be a bass player in the context of something else… what a great role model.. The only thing he doesn't do of course is write bearable words, but you can't win ‘em all.

Do you still go back to his albums now?

Yes, it’s timeless stuff. Jack Bruce is a good example of somebody who continues to make great music. If I get bored, I rediscover things that used to excite me. Another good example is the Mahavishnu Orchestra. They were one of the first live concerts I ever saw, back in 1972, and their first album [The Inner Mounting Flame] was one of the first albums I ever bought. Recently I've found a whole load of bootleg recordings of them that you can download. On that first album the songs were about five minutes long, these are expanded to 25 minutes live! It’s just so exciting. Over 30 years on, nothing has replaced it.

Your first band is always listed as Sparks, but were there any bands before that?

No, there was a school band, then there was one band which never played any gigs, so Sparks were my first proper band.

Sparks had just relocated to England at that time, and you answered an ad in Melody Maker looking for a "beard free bass player". Had you heard of Sparks at that point?

I'd seen them on the Old Grey Whistle Test about two weeks beforehand… and I didn't like them very much. But then I also didn't like the ethic of the Old Grey Whistle Test either, and Bob Harris was rather irritated by this group, so I thought okay, maybe they're not quite as terrible as I think they are. But actually I didn't really care too much, because I was just keen to do something.

Do you remember your audition for Sparks?

Yes, it wasn't a musical audition, it was a spoken one. The brothers were there and it was a personable, social audition at John Hewlett's house in Croydon. It was quite sensible really, to see if we could bear each other as people.

So they didn't ask you to play?

No, we just chatted and I didn't hear for some months and eventually I had a phone call saying "let's do it again" And I said "shall I bring the bass this time?" And they said "erm, oh yes, good idea". So I brought the bass along and we rehearsed at Barnet rugby club. I played Girls from Germany and some other songs that had the word girls in the title. I remember thinking "they have to broaden their subject material".

The fortunes of Sparks changed rapidly after you joined….

I'm glad you noticed that..

…a massively successful album [Kimono My House] and the hit singles that came from it [This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us & Amateur Hour]. It was a radically different sound for this third album compared to previous two, how much of an input did you have in this change of style?

Well, the main difference was they now had a bunch of people who could play, and who had been playing for some time. Various people say that I made a big contribution to things like arrangements, but to be honest, a lot of it was about tension, musical tension. There was Adrian, who hated all this glam, fey, limp wristed stuff, and wanted to make it tougher, and then you had this 'twinky' tendency going on in the other corner of the room. And it was actually all these tensions that produced something quite good. I came from the prog world, so I was another piece of the jigsaw, but I had communication skills, where as they would just do something and there it was and it wasn’t integrated necessarily, they wouldn't try and bend anything else around it.

It was quite an arty thing wasn’t it, where as a lot of the glam rock thing was very one-dimensional. Roxy were very arty to…

Yes, it had 'art concepts' behind it. To me when I think of glam, I think of the Sweet and Gary Glitter, I don't think of Sparks. Glam rock was more about double tracked tom-toms and not much else going on.

Ultimately though a short lived affair, and you were drummed out of Sparks before the fourth album. I hear various rumours as to why, but what's the real one? Did you grow a beard?!

No, no. The final straw really was being asked to play Ian Hampton’s bass [a Fender Precision], as they decided they didn't like the sound of mine [a Rickenbacker 4001]. But obviously that was indicative of greater issues.

They also weren’t keen on looking at some of the songs you were writing at that time is that right?

Yeah, I think "weren’t keen" is a very appropriate way of describing it. John Hewlett said recently that he felt he rather fucked up as a manager at the time, because a manager should have the confidence to smack his protégé around the ears and say “stop being so stupid, you’ve got someone who is contributing here”. To quote him he says they "felt threatened", whatever that means. Not physically, although they were threatened physically by my friend Chris Townson who once punched Russell in the face over dinner. Russell was being snooty, as he often was, about Chris's band Jook. These were the days before Chris had acquired anger management skills, so he said "don't you take the piss out my band" and BAM hits Russell in the face. whereupon Russell burst into tears and ran off. ….It always makes me smile..

I always get the impression that there is bad feeling between you and the Mael brothers even now, is that the case?

Well, I made an attempt to try and clear the air about this ongoing thing about Kimono royalties. I was invited to the after show party at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in 1994, we spoke but it was like…. in Berlin they have this expression they go… [Martin pulls a blank face and waves his hand in front of it].. meaning if somebody has a wall in front of their face, you can't get words through it. So it all remains unresolved.

And what about the Sparks fans, how do you think they feel about you? are they appreciative of what you did or do you think there is a clash of loyalties there too?

I have the impression that my 'fans', for want of a better word, are not from the Sparks community. I remember there was a rather nasty personal attack on me on one Sparks message board... I think I made it worse by joining in under another name, agreeing that I was a total and utter bastard and should be shot. but still the sentiment was unpleasant. Perhaps the fact that I am not a great ‘Mole’ lover is to blame. Or the fact that I find the aforementioned story of Chris Townson hitting Russell very funny. Quite why the fans insist on using the term 'the boys' about a couple of sixty year-old men leads me to think that some of them are not really all there.

So you weren’t asked to re-joining Sparks for the upcoming Kimono My House show then?!

What being the only living member of the band you mean? It's got novelty value at least. No, no.

But if they’d asked you, would you have done it?

John Hewlett asked me this last week, I said I would just play Barbecutie, in fact, just the Barbecutie intro, then hand the bass over. So on that symbolic level… maybe.

What do you think of Sparks idea to perform all 21 of their albums over 21 nights?

It’s very good, it's inventive. It has been done before of course, Cheap Trick did it, but it's not a bad idea. I don't know how it's going to work out financially though.

I always think of Sparks 4th album, Propaganda, as Kimono My House II. Although you had gone by that time, did you have any input into the songs that eventually turned up on the outcome?

No, I think a couple of songs we recorded may have turned up on it, but I'm not sure.

Let’s move on to your next band Jet, who at the time were considered a bit of a supergroup [Martin and Peter Oxendale both ex-Sparks, Andy Ellison and Chris Townson were both ex-John’s Children - Townson of course had also been in Jook, and Davy O'List had played in the Attack, the Nice, and Roxy Music]. Personally I think they were a really underrated band, that album is a classic! I recently interviewed James from Silvery (read the full interview here) and he described it as "a slightly more ridiculous Kimono My House, a real junk shop glam classic". I think that sums it up well, and to people who are aware of it, it is almost universally described as one of the ultimate glam albums.

Well it’s that thing we were talking about earlier with Sparks, it wasn't glam as in double tracked tom-toms, it was more art glam, and in that sense, yeah it was a glam band, but then when you have people dressed up as Little Lord Fauntleroy and dinosaurs, wearing white flowing capes, it’s hard to be anything other than glam, I suppose.

The album got re-released on CD a few years back, but it disappeared almost immediately. What's happening with that?

Well BMG, who now own it, are not interested in putting it out, for some reason. I get lots of e-mails from people saying "when's it gonna come out?". If BMG knew people were asking for it, perhaps they'd have a change of heart.

Or at least just put it up on i-Tunes, where there are no real overheads

Sure, there's no costs involved whatsoever if you use that medium. It's even remastered, so it's a bit short-sighted really.

What's your favourite memory of Jet?

Chris Townson said his favourite memory of Jet was the free sandwiches in the studio. In fact, he said it was his most joyous memory, and all the other memories of Jet were appalling. My favourite memory…. well, we once played a gig to one person in Dunoon. That was quite funny, but I wouldn’t like to do it again.

You didn't think to cancel it??!

Well, it was too late. We were on a stage which had curtains, they opened them and by that time you're committed. The guy became comatose halfway through the gig though, so he couldn't actually leave -- he slid down the bar and lay on the floor… probably just as well.

Did you mix with any other glam acts at that time?

I used to bump into the Sweet at Top of the Pops…. bunch of bricklayers. And of course the Glitter people because Mike Leander was the manager of Jet as well. But no glam soirées discussing the ins and outs of the glam concept.

Ian MacLeod replaced Davy O'List on guitar, and then Jet pretty much morphed into the Radio Stars, just as the music scene was morphing from glam to punk. You didn't particularly consider yourselves as punks, but you seemed to be accepted by the scene?

Yeah, being on a punk label (Chiswick) helped too - in fact Chiswick were just old rockers rather than punks really. But anyway we adopted suitable clothing and it was a fun thing, it wasn’t some sort of alien notion that had nothing to do with us. We got very good at that time though, we were playing 250 gigs a year, so it was very slick.


Was it a help or hindrance being associated with the punk scene?

Oh, it was a help because you can be identified by outsiders. We did get spat on a lot though.

There's a story that the Radio Stars were once wrongly introduced on Top of the Pops by Dave Lee Travis…

That's right as Paul McCartney and Wings. And we collectively went into a dreadful acapella version of Mull of Kintyre. It was never broadcast of course, but we added it to our set list after that. We did it as the encore at the Lyceum, our first major headlining gig. We’d always choose two different keys, Andy would sing one part and we would play the other… it was all rather confusing. And that was our encore.

What can you tell me about the new Radio Stars live CD, Something For The Weekend?

It's a compilation, I don't think we ever played all those songs in one go. That's why the quality is pretty good, it’s selected from lots and lots of material.

The best of what's available….

Yeah, well, the least worst...


The second and final part of this interview will be published in a few days time, where amongst other things we talk about the Rolling Stones, Marc Bolan, Blue Meanie, Martins solo work and Kylie’s bustier! Don’t miss it!

LINKS:

Visit The Radio Stars official website here

The Official Martin Gordon website

Buy Martin Gordon CDs at Amazon!

Not sure if this is the same website Martin was refering to in the interview, but you can certainly download a lot of free Mahavishnu Orchestra live audios here
Jazz Fusion Free Downloads!

See my Sparks article here, containing exclusive comments from Ron and Russell Mael,

When I Interviewed James from Silvery last year, we had a long chat about all maner of things, including his love for Sparks
read the full interview with Silvery here

Piley