Archives for June 2009

It was the summer of 1979, as I recall. The night that my band, the absurdly-titled Acme Music made their debut at the Harp Bar on Belfast's Hill Street. We had rocked the youth club circuit and a few church halls. I think we had already featured at Clonduff Community Centre where they paid for your talent in cider bottles. But the Harp Bar was the big deal. It was where the grandees of punk lived. It was also a temendously snobby joint and if you hadn't been in the first few skirmishes of the punk wars, you were considered a vulgar intruder. Which wasn't very punk rock at all...

So we gave it our best and a few people clapped, perhaps ironically. Many of our fans had been too scared to turn up, such was the Harp's reputation. But we negotiated the stripper on the stairway and hauled a pitiful PA system up there with us. We may have played a Ramones song and we didn't look too concerned when a stray beer glass went whistling though the air. That's my pal Alan Giddings on guitar - the Mick Jones to my Joe Strummer delusion. In the background is drummer Ian Hanna. He was a pet food merchandiser, and so we travelled in style, supine on boxes of Biffo dog food. We smelt of offal, gelatine and unquenchable teen spirit.

As I write this, Ruby Murray still holds the record for the most records in the pop charts - five - at the same time. Her moment was March 1955, a month in which she sold over 650 000 records. Her chart performance has not been bettered since - not by Elvis, The Beatles, Madonna, Springsteen or Kylie. we've always been rather proud that a gal from the Donegal Road, Belfast could have delivered this.

But guess what - Michael Jackson is likely to have a raft of tunes in the Top 20. Possibly more than five and maybe even the entire chart. Such is the nature of the download age that we don't have to wait for the records to get pressed, shipped and registered. We was robbed.

Last night I got to talk cricket with Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy and Thomas Walsh from Pugwash. Together they are the Duckworth Lewis Method and their concept album is literally a load of old flannel. White flannel, of course, which they plan to wear for their busking session at Lord's.

Also on the show, some live music from Junior Johnston and much chat from Paddy Glasgow about the Glasgowbury festival. In the second half, we were enthused by David, Katie And Philip from the Belfast Carnival. No point in playing any Michael Jackson songs. I didn't play him when he was alive and the media eulogies are so very tiresome. He was never a King to me....

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Fridays, ten - midnight

Playlist 26.06.09

Chris Farlowe - Just Look At Me (Immediate)

Mariarchi El Bronx - Cell Mates (Wichita)

Regina Spektor- Folding Chair (Sire)

Band Of Horses - Islands On Coast (Subpop)

Matthew Sweet, Susanne Hoffs - Willin (Shout Factory)

Junior Johnston - Ballad Of Glasgowbury (acoustic session)

Junior Johnston - Lonely Places (acoustic session)

Julie Feeney - My Roving Eye Guy (Mittens)

Tinariwen - Imidiwan Afrik Temdam (Independiente)

Jack Penate - Be The One (XL)

Manic Street Preachers - Peeled Apples (Weatherall remix) (Sony)

Geno Washngton - Understanding (Castle)

Regina Spektor - The Calculation (Sire)

Booker T And The MGs - Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy (Atco)

I Roy - Space Flight (Attack)

Kate And Anna McGarrigle - St James Hospital (Private)

Christina Courfin - Foreign Country (Nonesuch)

The Reindeer Section - You Are My Joy (Bright Star)

Throw Me The Statue - Hi Fi Goon (Secretly Canadian)

Interview with Neil Hannon and Thomas Walshe

The Duckworth And Lewis Method - The Age Of Revolution (1969)

The Duckworth And Lewis Method - The Flatten The Hay (1969)

The Duckworth And Lewis Method - The Jiggery Pokery (1969)

The Duckworth And Lewis Method - The The End Of The Over (1969)

He was Swells or Steven Wells or sometimes Susan Williams. In the latter role, he used to shout a lot about pop music on the Whistle Test. I think he was also in this role when I first saw him on stage at the Mean Fiddler, supporting The Redskins and saying unspeakable things about Laura Ashley.

He was from Bradford and he was politicised by punk rock and the social engineering of Margaret Thatcher. I worked with him at NME for around 10 years and he was generally great value, ranting about Morrissey, the Manics, Mute Records and the value of eating meat. He also made a series of videos and vented his stuff across a variety of platforms. Now I've just heard that the fellah has died of cancer. A quick search has revealed that he wrote a final column for the Philadelphia Weekly. It has some robust language so don't follow the link if that kind of thing bothers you.

Swells chose to be offensive as an alternative to moderation, politesse and reserve. He loved to bait liberals and rednecks. He enjoyed loud music and insolent people with guitars. They have lost a great chamption.

With decent intentions, I made my way to the anti-racist demonstration outside the City Hall in Belfast on Saturday. It was the right thing to do and while I had planned my day reasonably well. I was 30 minutes late and the central part of the demonstration was over. I hung around for a while and chatted to various people I knew. The mood was upbeat and there were musicians, trade unionists, travellers, people from many nationalities and even some politicians around. But there should have been more people present.



And really, I should have arrived on time and with my family with me. It would have been a chance to show my disgust at the recent attacks and it would have introduced my children to the concept of demonstrations, passive protest and the value of conscience and community. But like many other people, I had compromised by good intentions with other bits of the social and family life. A few days later, I discussed this was a few friends. One of them came up with a line from Edmund Burke:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

And you know, I think he may be right.

I was looking forward to the Bono profile in today's Sunday Times. The writer Chrissie Isley had loads of access and also got insights from world leaders, band members, the wife and the entourage. I anticipated that Bono would understand the reach of the publication and that he might reveal something appropriate.

But it was like so much vapour. The energy, the restlessness and the needy side of the artist were all noted, but you wanted a new skin on the onion, an anecdote or an illustration to show where his head is currently at. Being with Bono is a very flattering thing and the context is so stimulating (noise, famous mates, massive events) that you can miss the central focus. The shades are deflecting the intrusive gaze and the personna fills in gamely. You might easily come away thinking you have cracked it when in fact you've been kindly tolerated.

The closest I've come to a Bono insight was in the air between Dusseldorf and London. The band had just made one of those exciting exits from the back of the arena, straight into the limos, to the airport and onto the jet. And the singer was utterly cleaned out. He looked ancient and impossibly fatigued. Everyone in the hall had been given a little bit of Bono and so there was an alarming vacancy at the heart of it.

Within half an hour, Bono had reconstituted himself, sucking the necessary fuel out of the molecules nearby and pinballing those dynamics once again. He started smiling and showing me his scars and war wounds - gathered in the course of some other mad parade, high on the customary hope. He was himself again.

I'm not exactly sure what 'Drinking In LA' means, but it sounds kind of seasonal. To my mind, it's about stepping aside from the sheer face of professionalism, duty and expectation. The alternative is to get royally soused and to watch the world go by. Bran Van 3000 came from Montreal and at some stage the focal character James Di Salvio was trying to break into the movie industry. It all went awry, he hit the bottle and he discovered a rock and roll career by misadventure. Sometimes, people, we have to lose ourselves to find the valuable stuff...

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Fridays, ten - midnight

Playlist 19.06.09

Eric Burdon, Billy Preston - Power To The People (E Squared)

Discovery - Orange Shirt (XL)

Chris Isaak - Mr Lonely Man (Warner)

Welcome Wagon - But You Who Fear My Name (Righteous)

Julie Feeney - Stay (Mittens)

Rufus - Tell Me Something Good (EMI)

Duke Special - Texarcana Baby (Universal)

Cookin On 3 Burners - Seen Through Your Disguise (Freestyle)

The Daintees Running Water (Kitchenware)

Lisa Hannigan - I Don't Know (Lisa Hannigan)

The Twang - Barney Rubble (B Unique)

REM - Pop Song 89 (Warner)

Amazing Baby - Invisible Place (V2 )

Bruce Springsteen - Because The Night (Columbia)

The Luvin Spoonful - Do You Believe In Magic (Atlantic)

Camera Obscura - Honey In The Sun (4ad )

Discovery - Can You Discover (XL)

Richard Hawley - Troublesome Waters (Righteous)

Phoenix - 1901 (V2)

Julie Feeney - Impossibly Beautiful (Mittens)

Disraeli Ghears - Only Gone (Crankin Groove)

Peter Gabriel - Father, Son (Real World)

Soulsavers - Sunrise (V2)

The Triffids - Hometown Farewell Kiss (Mushroom)

Emmylou Harris - Goin Back To Harlan (Grapevine)

Mel Wiggins - My Brother's Keeper (white)

Vince Taylor - Brand New Cadillac (EMI)

Buffy Saint Marie - No No Kesagesh (cv)

Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In LA (Capitol)

Good on then. A chance to indulge your weary soul. A bit literal in the use of the colour blue, but otherwise rather sweet.

Here's a little song you might know. Can you all sing along in the chorus?

I spent 11 years as an economic migrant, looking to better my prospects in London. Even though the work situation at home wasn't appalling, it felt like the right thing to do, a personal rite and part of a broader family tradition. I remember my uncle's letters from Newfoundland and the stories of other relatives that had lit out across the Atlantic. It's been a traditional thing and I would defend as a basic human privilege.

Meantime in South Belfast, thug law is running the show, directing the pogrom. Frightened kids in church halls and old men muttering to the cameras that the Romaniains "have no right to be here". Deep shame

In 1991 myself and two journalist friends were invited to have afternoon tea with Tori Amos. We didn't know much about this flame-haired American, but it seemed like a reasonable request and so we steered around to her South Kensington flat and were met at the door by a pair of intense, unblnking eyes.

Tori made us liquorice tea and delivered some small talk. Which was not particularly small, and soon verged on the irrationally tall. There was a gentleman in the room who may have been her producer friend Eric Rosse, He was wearing white, the room was essentially white and so was the baby grand. Without any warning, Tori sat down at the keyboard and started playing. Her first number was 'Silent All These Years' and so we watched impassively as Tori immersed herself. She fixed us with her eyes and she rocked at the piano. It was quite an event.

She'd barely finished when a new song was delivered. This was 'Me And A Gun' a rather harrowing story about rape, violence and a soul in turmoil. Again, we were treated to the fluttering voice and all the drama. We were quite glad when she had finished, but then she wanted to explain the songs. She muttered something about Maryland cookies and how the memory of these had suddenly popped into her consciousness during a moment of physical terror. Crumbs, we thought.

Tori had a weekly residency at the Mean Fiddler Acoustic Room in Harlesden, and I went to see her there a few tiimes. The first time, I sat with her father, a white-haired preacher man who carried a silver-topped walking cane. He listened politely to those fried confessionals and he didn't seem too discomforted by the words.

Withing a few months, Tori was in the charts and sweetly on her way to a career that would shift 12 million records. Any time that I bumped into her, she was welcoming and enthusiastic. I think she knew that I wasn't a big fan of her music but we both recognised that there was a Tori-shaped hole in the universe that only she could fill. She's done that duty well.

I'd forgotten how fine the first Thrills album is. It was a record with a point of view, a sunny aesthetic, loads of tunes and even a dose of fun. You knew they had excellent record collections, that they could play well and that clothes hung on them in a satisfactory manner. The record topped the Irish charts and reached number three in the UK. So why did all the energy turn to dust?

I think the roots of the problem were there from the first release. The band was roaring along, too far, too soon. Major record companies are designed to work on a large scale, to move many records to the multitudes. And that's what they did with The Thrills. They were all over the radio and pop TV, they played the festivals and worked the music press. The first album had a clatter of singles, which furthered their profile and their chart residency. You might argue that this is exactly what should have happened. My feeling is that nobody was holding back and the public essentially became bored.

When the second album came out, the band looked knackered, the songs were a little less dynamic and the mystique had all gone. They had no time for development or reflection and the industry cynics were already looking for fresh meat elsewhere. Album three didn't stand a chance.

I hope The Thrills resurface in some way, because they had so much to offer before their cool was all mortgaged out. And if a young Irish band is getting ready for a bit of music industry action and there's no mention of growing into the art and the workload, then I suggest you get a bit concerned.

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Fridays, ten - midnight

Playlist 12.06.09

Matthew Sweet - Susannah Hoffs - Second Hand News (Shout Factory)

Dexy's Midnight Runners - I Love You (Mercury)

The Vals- Yesterday Today (Electrique Mud)

Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl (Reprise)

The Pyramids - I'm The Playboy (Sombre)

The Vals- Things Will Always Be The Same (Electrique Mud)

The Beatles -Rain (Parlophone)

God Help The Girl - Frog In My Throat (Rough Trade)

The Low Anthem - To Ohio (Bella Union)

Paul Pilot - I Love Your Bones (white)

The Men They Couldn't Hang - Aquamarine (Irregular)

Peter Bjorn And Jogn - It Don't Move Me (Wichita)

Charles Mingus - Better Git It In Your Soul (Columbia)

Matthew Sweet - Susannah Hoffs - All The Young Dudes (Shout Factory)

Manic Street Preachers - From Despair To Where (Sony)

Get Well Soon - Busy Hope (City Slang)

Charlie Dore - I'm Cleaning Out My House (Kartel)

Bap Kennedy - Cold War Country Blues (Lonely Street)

Kris Kristofferson - Come Sundown (Columbia)

The Men They Couldn't Hang - Reservoir (Irregular)

Fink - Sort Of Revolution (Ninja Tune)

Ibraham Ferrer - Perfume de Gardenia (World Circuit)

Magnolia Electric Company - Shenandoah (Secretly Canadian)

Ry Cooder - He'll Have To Go (Reprise)

Fiery Furnaces - The End Is Near (Thrill Jockey)

The Thrills - Old Friends, New Lovers (Virgin)

Ernie K Doe - Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Evangeline)

Tonight on the radio show I'll be joined by The Vals, who've just finished off their album, 'Sticks And Stones' in Germany. I was fond of their last single 'Yesterday Today' and it seems like their application is paying off nicely. They're also bringing along some tunes by The Beatles, Neil Young and The Pyramids, which ought to be a bonus.

I've got some other tunes to play from the likes of Matthew Sweet, Dexys Midnight Runners, Magnolia Electric Company, Stuart Murdoch and Peter Bjorn & John, so I would strongly advise we meet up around 10pm. Agreed?

If you're a bit nippy on the iplayer, you still have the chance to see the Arena special on TS Elliot. And what a blinder of a programme it is. TS Elliot carried himself like a bank official (which amazingly, he was for a long while), but he wrote poems that were fractured, contorted and layered like the wildest hip hop. In 1922, man.

He also had a strong belief in the Theory of Impersonality - the notion that the poem and not the poet was the thing to be trusted. And so, after his death, his estate guarded his life and reputation with ferocious zeal. There were occasional openings, such as the manuscript for The Wasteland, which showed the editing hand of Ezra Pound and effectively revealed the birth pangs of a modern classic.

But Arena was gifted the scrapbooks and memorabiia, the personal images and some charming extras. Such a coup The jarring moment came when they regarded his questionable pieces like Bleinstein With A Cigar. Was the guy anti-semitic? They didn't conclude either way.

Dylan namechecked him in Desolation Row, although Bob was more inclined to the French gutter poets that had informed Eliot in the first place. On a local level, we might have accepted Foy Vance with 'Afternoons And Coffee Spoons', which borrows from 'The Love Song Of JR Pruefrock'. The same Eliot poem is referenced by Andy White in Birds Of Passage, while Andy also lifts from The Hollow Men in his masterful song Speechless. Van Morrison of course, hails the guy in Summertime In England. You could hardly ask for better than that.

Amusing conversation after the Manics gig in Belfast....

MSP: "Stu was a serious journalist. He interviewed NWA in Compton."

SB: "Yes, that was an interesting trip."

MSP: "Have you still got that postcard that Richey wrote for you?"

SB: "I've still got it."

MSP: "You've not been tempted to stick it on ebay?"

SB: "Not yet."

MSP: "What was on it again? Globalisation, Disneyland..."

SB: "It was a Barbie card."

MSP: "Typical Richey."

SB: "There was also something about Fritz Lang and Metropolis."

MSP: "Of course."

SB: "If you ever need lyrics for a B side, it might come in useful."

MSP: "Cheers Stu."

Hurrah for the Duckworth Lewis Method, a cricket-loving combo formed around Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy and Thomas Walsh from Pugwash. The connection between rock and roll and cricket is a slender one, unless you include 'Soul Limbo' by Booker T and Roy Harper's 'When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease'. The latter is an overpowering epitaph for the demise of England's past and was played as a requiem for John Peel. Otherwise, football takes all the musical glory.

But Neil and Thomas are clearly having stellar fun. Hannon has the plummy reserves and the arcane language. The music takes an unexpected boogie on occasions and it celebrates the cosmic importance of the game. It radiates great joy, so we should all be delighted for Neil, who has also been working on the soundtrack to 'Wide Open Spaces'.

Playlist 05.06.09

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Fridays, ten - midnight

Wings - Helen Wheels (Parlophone)

Camera Obscura - Honey In The Sun (4AD)

The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Age Of Revolution (1969)

Cookin' On 3 Burners - This Girl (Freestyle)

Steve Earle - Delta Moma Blues (New West)

Dale Watson - Wine Wine Wine (Hightone)

Wilco - You And I (Nonesuch)

Tenariwen - Chabiba (Independiente)

Aztec Camera - Deep And Wide And Tall (WEA)

The Noisettes - Never Forget You (Vertigo)

Augustus Pablo - East Of The River Nile (Shanachie)

The Minus 5 - The Lurking Barrister (cv)

James Blackshaw - Cross (Young God)

The Faces - Poolhall Richard (Rhino)

Broken Records - A Good Reason (4ad)

The Duckworth Lewis Method - Gentlemen And Players (1969)

Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down The Crazy River (Geffen)

Super Furry Animals- Mt (Rough Trade)

Heliopause - Moment Of Recognition (Furious Tradesmen)

Daby Toure and Skip McDonald - Riddem (Real World)

The Smoke Fairies - Frozen Heart (white)

Tenariwen - Imidiwan Afrik Tendam (Independiente)

Dinosaur Jr - Ocean In The Way (PIAS)

Henry McCullough - Cross The Line (Flamingo)

The Duckworth Lewis Method - The End Of The Over (1969)

Manic Street Preachers - Design for Life (Stealth Sonic Orchestra Remix) (Sony)

I met up with Oscar from Colenso Parade the other day. That's the Eighties band from Northern Ireland who took their name from the street near Botanic Gardens, where Sean Rafferty used to live. Not to be confused by the more recent act called Colenso Parade who have also been smitten by the location.

I used to see Oscar quite a bit in the old days. He was a funny guy with a soul full of poetry and a connection to those other tousle-haired Celts, Ian McCullough and Pete Wylie. From what I remember, Wylie and Oscar used to correspond, and the former used to send home-made comic books to our guy. At one stage, the Colenso Parade guitarist was Terry Bickers, a truly eccentric chap who later made his name with the House Of Love and Levitation. I have a foggy remembrance of him bashing out the riffage to 'Down By The Border' at the Rock Garden, causing real astonishment in the crowd.

The band was managed by Dave Bedford, who now works with The Answer. Oscar retired from the singing caper with his dignity intact and a future career in events production in Edinburgh. It was a delight to see him in Belfast. He in turn seemed to find it hilarious that I had a Ruefrex album by the side of my desk. Doesn't everbody have one of those?

Here's the Manic Street Preachers and myself in Los Angeles, May 1992. They were promoting their first album in America and I was there for a few days of intense fun. We had just taken a ride to a TV studio in Anaheim and on the way back, we took an impulse detour to Disneyland, where the band pulled shapes for photographer Pennie Smith.

Also in the photo is Rob Stringer, an Aylesbury boy who had signed the band to Epic Records. I believe he's now US Chairman of the Sony Music Group. Also in the shot is the band's manager Martin Hall, who also looks after The Script these days.

After Disneyland, I took a taxi to Compton where the embers of the LA Riots were still smouldering. I interviewed Eazy-E from NWA and then scurried back to Sunset Strip, where we had some refreshing drinks with the Manics at Barney's Beanerie. It was a wonderful night and Richey was in top form, getting loose on tequiilla and unspooling a series of tall stories. Strange days.