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Thursday
31st May
I'm gutted beyond belief. It had been
14 years since Chicagoan doom-metal veterans Trouble last played
the UK. The excitement at seeing them again was palpable. However,
I'd not considered the infamous 'Scala factor'.
Fulfilling a promise to investigate opening act Rise
To Addiction, a band of young British musos who'd once been
guilty of backing Blaze Bayley - hey, everyone deserves a second
chance - I arrived nice 'n' early. Alas, the sound was so utterly
abysmal that I was driven back to the sanctuary of the bar after
a mere two songs. The mix would improve for Trouble, surely?
Well, sadly, no... and don't call me fucking Shirley. As a former
cinema, the Scala simply wasn't built to be a rock venue. Its
boomy acoustics once caused me to walk out on King's X, and
last night I almost did so again. The PA sounded as though it
had been draped in a mountain of wet douvets, muffling the guitars
and swamping Eric Wagner's vocals in bass. It took almost an
hour to attain anything like satisfactory levels of clarity,
and the band were only onstage for 95 minutes. For what it's
worth, here's the set-list: 'RIP', 'The Sleeper', 'Come Touch
The Sky', 'Plastic Green Head', 'Assassin', 'Pray For The Dead'/'End
Time', 'Mindbender', 'Goin' Home', 'At The End Of My Daze',
'Memory's Garden', 'Fear', 'Psychotic Reaction', 'All Is Forgiven',
'Electric Funeral'/'The Tempter', 'Bastards Will Pay' and 'The
Misery Shows (Act II)'.
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Tuesday
29th May
So
Derby County won the play-offs to be promoted to the Premiership,
a prize that's doubled in value to more than £60 million
since my beloved Palace achieved the same feat at Cardiff back
in May 2004. I'm a little shocked as the team they beat 1-0,
West Bromwich Albion, were the best side that the mighty Eagles
played at Selhurst last season. But that's the unpredictability
of the play-offs for ya. Meanwhile, it was great to see England's
cricketers defeating both the weather and the West Indies at
Headlingley to romp home by a whopping innings and 283 runs.
My two young sons derived much hilarity from the name of Ryan
Sidebottom, but the hirsute bowler fully deserved his haul of
eight wickets and gives the selectors a bit of a headache for
the Third Test.
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Monday 28th May
It's raining cats 'n' dogs. Of course it's fucking raining,
it's a Bank Holiday weekend. But here's something to elevate
the mood. I'm spinning a double anthology of 'Fast' Eddie Clarke's
career, which includes three rarely heard demo tracks cut by
the original Fastway, before Pete Way bailed from the group
to play with Ozzy Osbourne. Fascinating stuff and well worth
a listen. Talking of Fastway, I forgot to mention an email that
came in from Mr Clarke himself a few days back, revealing that
erstwhile Little Angels frontman Toby Jepson has taken the place
of Stormzone's John 'Harv' Harbinson for Fastway's summer reunion
commitments. Since the news broke I've had several messages
asking my thoughts on this unlikely collaboration. Will it work?
Frankly, I'm at a loss to offer any kind of opinion. Jepson
claims to be a fan of the band, having bought their first album.
I can only pray that they won't be adding the Angels' spectacularly
bad 'Womankind' to the set.
P.S. It's a day or two early, but the June playlist
has just gone up.
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Sunday
27th May
Stumbled home from last night's Magnum gig just as
twilight gave way to a brand new morning. Having mixed the grain
and the grape on an all but empty stomach, I'm feeling terrible
as I type. You're now expecting me to blather on about how wonderful
Magnum were, right? Well, I've a few grumbles. The band's current
album, 'Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow', is their strongest
by far since reuniting five years ago. With the possible exception
of 'Dragons Are Real', the five new songs they played all deserved
their inclusion. It's the core of the band's set that's now
reached stagnation point (perhaps that word is harsh but Tony
Clarkin does seem to have played the exact same extended guitar
solo during 'How Far Jerusalem' since Jesus trod that fair city's
streets). I appreciate that Magnum fans pay to hear a certain
selection of favourite tunes. But with so many albums at their
disposal couldn't they replace a couple with something less
obvious, such as 'If I Could Live Forever', 'All Of My Life',
'Soldier Of The Line' or if they were feeling particularly determined,
'Don't Wake The Lion (Too Old To Die Young)'?
On the other hand, maybe it's just me having seen Magnum seven
times since they reconvened. Perhaps familiarity is breeding
contempt? I dunno, drop me a line and tell me I'm a curmudgeonly
old twat if you disagree. Meanwhile, here's the set-list: 'When
We Were Younger', 'Back Street Kid', 'Out Of The Shadows', 'On
A Storyteller's Night', 'Like Brothers We Stand', 'How Far Jerusalem',
'Dragons Are Real', 'Les Morts Dansant', 'We All Run', 'The
Spirit', 'All England's Eyes', 'Vigilante', 'Kingdom Of Madness',
'Thank You For The Day' and 'Sacred Hour'.
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Saturday
26th May
There's
good news for Iron Maiden fans who don't want to go to Download.
Those whispers of another charity show for ex-drummer Clive
Burr's MS Trust fund have been confirmed at last. Maiden play
London's 4,800-capacity Brixton Academy on June 24. I'll be
at Download, but gosh, I hope that I can lay my hands a ticket
for Brixton.
The new double live album from Starz just arrived, complete
with my sleeve notes. A few days ago I'd found myself in a second
hand shop, spending couple of quid on a 'best of' Judie Tzuke
album that I'd never seen before. Or so I thought. I later realised
that I'd written its notes some six years earlier and promptly
forgotten all about them. Never even saw a finished copy, so
it was worth the money. But I must familiarise myself with this
list
before doing anything as stupid again.
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Thursday
24th May
After
a series of inaccurate rumours, Nightwish have finally announced
the identity of their new singer. Step forward Anette
Blyckert, formerly with little-known Swedish AOR group Alyson
Avenue. The sound clips of the Finnish band's new download-only
single, 'Eva', sound very encouraging indeed, though I'll reserve
judgement till hearing whether or not the 35 year old Swede
can 'rock out' as well as handle lighter-waving ballads. My
understanding is that Nightwish's sixth album is already recorded
and due for release through Nuclear Blast on October 1. I was
only remarking a few days ago that the band's inner circle must
be even more water-tight than Peter Taylor's transfer budget.
Nobody can keep anything secret in these internet-obsessed days,
so it's impressive that a group whose last album sold more than
a million copies worldwide kept things under wraps for as long
as they did.
On the way back from a pleasant lunchtime interview with Silje
Wergeland and Trine C Johansen from Norwegian band Octavia Seperati,
I dropped into Fop Records at Cambridge Circus. Snapped up 'Good
Boys When They're Asleep: The Best Of The Faces' for a measly
£3. Less than the price of a pint. How did I live for
so long without this 19-song little beaut?!
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Wednesday
23rd May
Received an email from a journo pal who's writing some
a sleeve essay for a re-issue of UFO's 'No Place To Run' album.
Could I possibly lay my hands on the review that Sounds magazine
ran back in 1980, he wondered? No problem. I keep an archive
of old cuttings. Anxious as to how it would sound all these
years later, I put 'NPTR' onto the turntable whilst rifling
through my office filing cabinet. Made the error of playing
it at 45rpm at first - until I realised my gaffe I was thinking,
"Hmmm.... don't remember 'Alpha Centauri' being that fast!"
It has a few fillers for sure but, wow, what an underrated record.
'Lettin' Go' is still a fabulous song, likewise the gangland-themed
title cut. And I'll never forget seeing the band staggering
around as they played 'Young Blood' on Top Of The Pops. You
might have guessed, 'No Place To Run' was the first UFO album
I bought. I'm looking forward to owning it on CD at last!
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Tuesday
22nd May
Fountains
Of Wayne - what a truly amazing band. Can their last appearance
at the Astoria really have been three years ago, on the 'Welcome
Interstate Managers' tour? Since then Adam Schlesinger and Chris
Collingwood have issued 'Traffic And Weather', which I found
to be a grower but has well and truly taken residence inside
my head. They played quite a selection of tunes from the new
record in an 80-minute set that kicked off with 'I've Got A
Flair' and closed with a second encore of 'Bright Future In
Sales' and 'Bought For A Song'. Their chatter was often amusing
("A lot of people mistakenly believe we're from New Jersey.
We're actually from Swindon") and this morning I still
find myself humming 'Strapped For Cash', 'Mexican Wine', 'Hackensack',
'Hey Julie', 'Yolanda Hayes' and, of course, 'Stacey's Mom'.
If you've yet to experience this wondrous band, go to www.fountainsofwayne.com
and change your life before it's too late.
I'm gonna need a new hall floorway after the bumper new issue
of Fireworks
magazine smashed through the letterbox. There's some great
stuff in it, including interviews with Dream Theater, Winger,
Ian Gillan, Gotthard, Magnum, TNT, Threshold, Ritchie Blackmore,
Dokken, Saga and many more. It will require quite a bit of wading
through - not that I'm complaining, mind.
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Monday 21st May
What a pleasant weekend. On Saturday, apart from brief journeys
into the house to check the cricket score and a mini-lunch break,
I sat in my office from 5.45am until around 7.30pm working on
some sleeve notes. Because I was writing about one of my all-time
favourite bands, doing brief interviews with their bass player
and guitarist of the era, and the fella who produced the album
concerned (Clue: it came out in 1985 and its opening track is
'This Time'), it didn't seem like a chore at all. Had zero interest
in the Cup Final - Chelski vs Manure... who on earth could I
find it in my heart to support?
Yesterday, however, I did put aside some leisure time. Youngest
son Arnie and I went to the cinema to see Spider-Man 3. I used
to collect the comics as a kid; think they're still up in the
loft somewhere. The movie didn't receive the greatest of reviews,
but we both enjoyed it. I even got told off by my eight-year-old
for firing pretend webs at the screen as the lights dimmed.
"Stoppit dad, you're embarrassing me!" Hehehehe. Isn't
that my job?!
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Friday
18th May
You
join me as I bask in the excellence of the new Symphony X album.
I'm a big fan of these symphonic-prog-metallers from New Jersey,
having loved all their records so far and seen them open for
Stratovarius in March 2003. 'Paradise Lost' (due via Inside
Out Music on June 25th) is loosely based on Milton's book of
the same name and might just turn out to be their most accomplished
work so far - just as well as they support Dream Theater in
October. Postie just delivered promos of the first three Thin
Lizzy albums ('Thin Lizzy', 'Shades Of A Blue Orphanage' and
'Vagabonds Of The Western World'), none of which I've ever owned
on CD before. Crowded House's new single, 'Don't Stop Now',
is here as well. Gosh, I hate my job.
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Thursday
17th May
Enjoyed
Chris Cornell's gig at the Astoria last night, though not without
a few reservations. Don't get me wrong, the former Soundgarden/Audioslave
frontman is one of the best singers around, but his understated
style of presentation sometimes generates a soporific atmosphere.
And that's exactly what happened when he whipped out an acoustic
guitar for four slumbersome songs (well, three and a half; the
rest of the group joined him midway through Audioslave's 'Doesn't
Remind Me'). Unfortunately, Chris opted to deliver my own favourite
of his solo tunes, 'Can't Change Me', in the same stripped-down
format, also deliberately omitting 'Preaching The End Of The
World', from the same album, 'Euphoria Morning'. Ho-hum.
However, the exhausting 24-song performance also had more than
its fair share of magic moments, from bruising openers 'Spoonman'
and 'Outshined' to the bone-rumbling heaviness of a third encore,
'Slaves And Bulldozers' (all three originally recorded by Soundgarden,
of course). Temple Of The Dog's altogether mellower 'Hunger
Strike' and 'Seasons', his tune from The Singles movie soundtrack,
also set the spine tingling merrily, though Cornell must have
been on some heavy drugs for that abysmal re-make of Wacko Jacko's
'Billie Jean'. Here's the full set-list: 'Spoonman', 'Outshined',
'Show Me How To Live', 'Arms Around Your Love', 'You Know My
Name', 'Hunger Strike', 'What You Are', 'Rusty Cage, 'Be Yourself',
'Seasons', 'I Am The Highway', 'Scar On The Sky', 'Can't Change
Me', 'Doesn't Remind Me', 'Cochise', 'Billie Jean', 'No Such
Thing', 'Jesus Christ Pose', 'Mission', 'Like A Stone', 'Black
Hole Sun', 'Sunshower', 'Loud Love' and 'Slaves And Bulldozers'.
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Wednesday
16th May
Grrrrr.
With a work trip to Germany lined up for this weekend, Mrs L
and myself had spent the past few days darting around like mad
fools arranging a new passport. The operation culminated in
a 7.45am 'interview' at Passport House. Lo and behold, the mobile
then rings on my way home and I'm told the label concerned can't
get me a flight. So, £108 and several hours of inconveniece
later, the whole bloody thing's off. Will have to go and see
Spider-Man 3 instead.
Saxon and Masterplan played the Astoria in the evening. Ex-Helloween
guitarist Roland Grapow's outfit, Masterplan were introducing
new singer Mike DiMeo (formerly with Riot and The Lizards) and
powerhouse drummer Mike Terrana. Though limited to 45 minutes,
their combination of power and melody worked incredibly well,
easily winning over the vast majority of the packed venue. But
Saxon were not to be outdone. Besides a selection of classics,
their latest album, 'The Inner Sanctum', was heavily featured
('State Of Grace', 'Let Me feel Your Power', 'If I Was You',
'Red Star Falling', 'I've Got To Rock (To Stay Alive)', 'Ashes
To Ashes' and 'Atilla The Hun' - wonder if they played that
last one in Germany?). Dedicating 'Requiem (We Will Remember)'
to Tommy Vance was a nice touch, but I was gobsmacked when Biff
said farewell after just 70 minutes. Incredibly, they went on
to play a full 50 minutes of encores; the aforementioned 'Atilla
The Hun', plus '747 (Strangers In The Night)', 'Heavy Metal
Thunder', 'Wheels Of Steel', 'And The Bands Played On', 'Denim
And Leather', 'Ashes To Ashes' and 'Power And The Glory'. Phew!
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Tuesday
15th May
As
I type this, inspired by the excellent book on Styx that I'm
reading, Tommy Shaw's 1987 solo 'Ambition' is blaring out for
the second time today. How on earth was such an incredible record
not a huge hit?! Another quick word of praise for Sterling Whitaker's
wondrous tome The Grand Delusion. It might say The Unauthorised
True Story Of Styx on the cover, but the hero/villian of this
fascinating tale is keyboard player/vocalist Dennis De Young,
who ruled the Chicagoan group with an iron fist whilst guiding
them to four consecutive triple-platinum albums - just think
about those stats for a moment.
But of course you don't make omelettes without breaking a few
eggs. To this day, guitarist/vocalist James 'JY' Young remains
rancorous towards De Young (who departed Styx for good five
years ago). When I met JY
at the band's recent Wembley Arena show, he still refered witheringly
to Dennis as "the former keyboard player". No wonder,
for this book paints DDY as an ego-crazed, tyrannical genius
whose pananoia takes him to a nervous breakdown, before being
secretly sacked and then reinstated circa 1979's 'Cornerstone'
album. The intrusiveness of Dennis' wife Suzanne, reviled as
somebody "who knows enough about the business to be dangerous,
but not enough to be contributive" by manager Derek Sutton,
adds another time-bomb. With the regrettable exceptions of De
Young and guitarist/vocalist James 'JY' Young, Whitaker interviewed
just about everyone from Styx's inner circle for this highly
recommended book, which follows Styx's carefully planned rise
and ignominious nosedive with commendable honesty.
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Monday 14th May
Still
laughing like a loony at Sheffield United's instant return to
the Championship - as much as I like Joe Elliott, Neil Warnock
is one of the biggest cunts on the face of Planet Earth - I
headed off to see Spock's Beard at the Mean Fiddler. Artistically
speaking, the Californian progressive-rockers have flourished
against all the odds since leader Neal Morse was commanded by
God to quit the band five years ago (yes, really). But even
for a rainy Sunday night, the turnout was a little disappointing.
During more than two hours onstage we heard most of their latest,
self-titled ninth album, the third post-Neal offering, plus
older tunes like 'In The Mouth Of Madness', 'Thoughts (Part
2)' and 'Walking On The Wind'. I even enjoyed it when tub-thumper-turned-singer
Nick D'Virgilio returned to his old vocation, joining Jimmy
Keegan in a frenetic drum duel like Phil Collins and Chester
Thompson of Genesis used to do. Ending a great night with a
medley of 'The Water' and 'Go The Way You Go', from 1995's debut
album 'The Light', was almost as much of a masterstroke as the
announcement that Chris Squire of Yes was in the house; the
place went bonkers.
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Sunday
13th May
Pete Way just rang. He'd heard that Brian Wheat is
in town and wanted to know where to reach him. Pete and Brian
are great mates, so much so that Monsewer Way entrusted one
of his fave Aston Villa shirts to the Tesla bassist. The call
reminded me of one of the more printable anecdotes that Brian
told me about his hero when we met a few days ago. On one memorable
occasion, Wheat apparently stayed at Pete's place in Brum. As
the beers flew down their necks, Brian informed Pete that he
is the greatest shape-thrower in rock and roll. So Pete decided
to demonstrate a few moves. He got the Thunderbird bass out
and began prancing about the room, but was so pissed that he
tripped and fell into the hearth, setting himself on fire for
a few seconds. He's too hot to handle... boom boom!
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Saturday
12th May
Agog.
Stunned. Gobsmacked. Amazed. These adjectives might pertain
to the fact that I was charged £9.90 for two thimbles
of wine at Earl's Court last night, but they were intended to
describe one of the most stunning concerts I've seen in 28 years
of attending shows. Ex-Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters' 140-minute
performance offered clear sound, magnificent lighting, lazers,
a levitating spaceman and of course a flying
inflatable pig, lacking almost nothing - except David Gilmour,
Rick Wright and Nick Mason, of course. Nevertheless, his sizeable
backing entourage was amazing. With back-up from Andy Fairweather
Low, guitarists Snowy White and David Kilminster coped admirably
with Gilmour's solos, though even the prodigious use of block
harmony vocals couldn't disguise the fact that David's signature
voice was sometimes missed - a minor gripe, admittedly. Another
was the inclusion of a new song called 'Leaving Beirut', in
which Roger used the tale of friendship extended to him by an
Arab family in the Lebabon during the 60s to lecture us about
the Gulf war, its lyrics being shown on the video screens. I'll
happily listen to Waters' opinions when they're offered more
surreptitiously, this was just a little too much like propoganda.
Following in Eric Clapton's example, Waters had hired three
of the best female backing singers around, namely Katie Kissoon,
PP Arnold and Carol Kenyon. The music was delivered at what
felt like maximum volume, but at key moments had the capability
of hitting (interstellar) overdrive. Indeed, the combination
of back projections and a state of the art PA made it feel as
though you were caught up in some glorious womb, especially
when 1973's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' was rolled out in its entirety.
The set-list was; 'In The Flesh', 'Mother', 'Set The Controls
For the Heart Of The Sun', 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', 'Have
A Cigar', 'Wish You Were Here', 'Southampton Dock', 'The Fletcher
Memorial Home', 'Perfect Sense, Parts 1 and 2', 'Leaving Beirut',
'Sheep, and 'Dark Side Of The Moon', with encores of 'The Happiest
Days Of Our Lives', 'Another Brick In The Wall (Pt 2)', 'Vera',
'Bring The Boys Back Home' and 'Comfortably Numb'. Such were
our levels of glazed admiration, Mrs Ling and I exited the hall
almost speechlessly.
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Friday 11th May
Like most of you, I'm sure, I've followed Phil Spector's
murder trial with fascination and incredulity. The bouts of
procrastination - it was delayed in coming to court several
times - only served to bring out more horrific details of this
extraordinary case. We've heard how Spector routinely threatened
people (mainly women) with guns, including employees, friends
and even production clients like John Lennon (famously letting
off a round during the recording of the ex-Beatle's 'Rock And
Roll' album). A temporarily deafened Lennon reportedly told
Spector: "Listen, Phil, if you're going to kill me then
kill me. But don't mess with my ears, I need them".
According to ex-wife Ronnie, Spector would spend "days"
trying to get his ridiculous bouffant hairpieces to look natural,
refusing to leave the house if his goal failed - gosh, he must've
spent LOTS of time indoors. Female aquaintances were often informed
that they too were forbidden from exiting his mansion's front
door. His manipulation extended to demanding that Ronnie, who
was of course a singer in her own right, telephone and leave
the receiver on her pillow each night while she was on tour.
The marriage inevitably ended acrimoniously, Spector allegedly
informing his mother-in-law, "If that bitch tries to walk
out, I'll have her killed the moment she steps outside the gates.
I've already got her coffin".
The court has already learned how, in 1989, Spector turned "demonic"
on talent booker Dianne Ogden-Halder and tried to rape her at
gun point. Now Debbie Harry has spoken of the time that Spector
had her in the sights of his .45 automatic. "I thought,
'Get me out of here! I want to go home!'", says Blondie's
former bombshell, her terror understandable. The case continues,
and no doubt there will be many more such incidents to be shared.
I'm looking forward to a drink/catch-up with Tesla bassist Brian
Wheat and his manager/producer Tom Zutaut this afternoon, then
heading across London to Earls Court to see Roger Waters. My
pals Kevin McDempster and Rich Wilson both caught the 'Dark
Side Of The Moon'-themed performance earlier this week and their
verdict was unanimous: It was one of the best gigs they'd ever
seen.
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Thursday 10th May
Grrrrr... this is bloody annoying. I've had to turn down
a trip to San Francisco this weekend because it clashes with
my eldest son Eddie's birthday. Haven't been to the States for
quite a while; I really fancied it. However, yesterday had a
big redeeming factor. Spoke briefly to Steve Harris on the phone
for an upcoming Classic Rock story. At the end of our conversation
I asked him about the petition
to include him in the government's next honours list. As expected,
Steve finds the whole thing hilarious. "I'm sure it'll
never happen, and if it did I wouldn't want it," he chuckles.
"It's nice that people might think of me like that, but
it probably started as a joke that got out of hand. It's not
me. You know me; it's not what I'm about. Imagine if you had
to call me Sir all the time. A Crystal Palace fan to a West
Ham fan... you wouldn't do it, would you?" Fair point.
Oh yeah, there are also petitions to get Lemmy
Kilmister from Motörhead and Deep Purple's Ian
Gillan onto the honours list as well.
And here's some EXTREMELY welcome news. Gregg Allman has confirmed
a solo date at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on July 19. As
a huge fan of the Allmans - I was lucky enough to see them at
the Greek Theatre in LA back in '95 - that's one gig I wouldn't
dream of missing.
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Wednesday
9th May
Last night I attended a great show by Danny Vaughn
at the Purple Turtle, an intimate gig in London's Camden. Sponsored
by ARFM Radio,
it saw the former Waysted/Tyketto/Vaughn frontman playing material
from most stages of his career, though Waysted songs were conspicuous
by their absence. 'Desperate' Dan, as Monsewer Way used to call
him, is a fantastic singer and a likeable character, with some
amazing tunes to his name. The new 'Traveller' album was well-represented
('Miracle Days', 'Restless Blood', 'Badlands Rain', 'Better
By Far', 'Death Of The Tiger' and 'The Warrior's Way'), and
oldies like 'Burning Down Inside', 'Is That All There Is?',
'Haunted', 'Seasons', 'Fearless', 'The End Of The Summer Days',
'The Last Sunset' and the perennial 'Forever Young' have barely
aged a day. Vaughn is one the the business' nice guys but is
developing a bit of a feisty edge to his stage banter. Welcoming
his new musicians, culled from acts like Ten, Marshall Law,
Paradise Lost and Contagious, Danny said: "I used to introduce
these guys by saying which bands they'd been with, but fuck
those bands, they're in the best one now". At another point
he told us: "Fly the flag of your own country and they
tell you you're a racist. Go fuck yourself!" Cleveland-born
Vaughn has lived on this side of the pond for some time now,
but has yet to fall to the charms of the beautiful game. "You
know what's wrong with football?" he said towards the 100-minute
show's end. "Somebody like Cristiano Ronaldo ends up being
revered because his team wins. He's a wanker [who] shouldn't
have been allowed back into the country after the World Cup."
Daniel, novice footie fan or not, that's a large one I owe you
when next we meet.
_
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Tuesday
8th May
What
a dreadful shame about Charlton Pathetic's relegation... NOT!
Last night I sat at home, watching on Sky, mentally kicking
every ball and often laughing uncontrollably as the hapless
Clowns lost at home to Tottenham to drop out of the top flight
and back to where they belong. After the final whistle I cracked
open a few cold 'uns to toast the 0-2 scoreline. I await their
mass exodus of players and so-called 'fans' with equal amusement.
Excellent work Agents Dowie, Hreidarsson, Bent and Pardew, you
may now step down.
This morning I received an interesting email from Rab Cook,
who informs me that the well-respected and generally accurate
AC/DC fan site www.acdcpower.net
predicts that Angus Young and company are planning to release
a double DVD in September - one disc from the Bon Scott era,
the other featuring Brian Johnson - followed by a new studio
album in early 2008, with a world tour to follow. The day gets
better and better.
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Monday 7th May
We're back from a lovely few days away at our caravan on
the Essex coast - just what I needed after the past fortnight's
insanity. On Saturday night a thirsty Clan Ling descended upon
the showbar of the site's entertainment complex, where large
red wines and voddy 'n' Diet Cokes were consumed with alarming
regularity. Up on the stage, Bradley Bear was requesting volunteers
to join the show. My state of inebriation was such that I allowed
youngest son Arnie to accept on our behalves. Up we went, along
with another four pairs, into the jaws of the unknown. A game
of pass the parcel ensued, with each eliminated child contestant
receiving the chance to slam a 'flan' (well, a large plate of
shaving foam) into the face of their parent/guardian, in the
best tradition of Tiswas' legendary Phantom Flan Flinger. Thankfully,
Mrs L had forgotten to take her phone so there's no pictorial
evidence of Arnie exacting a messy payback for the fact that
I made him a Palace fan.
.... Which provides a nice link to yesterday's game against
Colchester United. Eldest son Eddie and I were among the 6,000
fans at Layer Road to see the mighty Eagles gain sweet revenge
for December's embarrassing 1-3 capitulation at Selhurst, extinguishing
the home side's slim play-off hopes in the process. Layer Road
is a pathetic rabbit hutch of a ground, and James Scowcroft's
goal quickly silenced the home fans. How they had the audacity
to sing, "Your support is fucking shit" to the sold-out
Palace contingent was mind-boggling. The ordinary nature of
the game was reflected in the chants, most of which were along
the lines of "Let's all laugh at [relegation-doomed] Charlton",
or aimed at Colchester goalie Dean Gerken. Fair play to Gerken,
who was reminded that he is a vegetable for much of the second
half. He took it all in good spirit, even turning round to laugh
and applaud the away fans when we broke into a chorus of "Dodgy
dodgy keeper, dodgy keeper, takes it up the arse", until
allowing Ben Watson's shot to slip past him into the net for
Palace's second goal. Cue a deafening chorus of: "Gerken
is a Palace fan!" Sigh... what on earth am I gonna do with
my Saturdays till the new season starts?!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
5th May
Just
been to the post office to collect an undelivered package. Incredibly,
it contains a bottle of RSVP, Jon Bon Jovi's new fragrance.
According to the press release it's "sure to bring out
the rock god in all men this summer". At £29.50 for
50ml, it darned well should do. What I want to know is, how
on earth it will enhance the sexuality of those of us who are
already rock gods? Time will tell, I guess. Mrs L says it smells
"okay - just okay", so that's hardly encouraging.
I'll probably just stick to my Jean-Paul Gaultier after shave,
as favoured by the one and only Mick Box. At least it won't
turn me into a country and western twat, which is what JBJ has
become, while I'm asleep.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday
4th May
Up at 6am to work on my Metal Hammer albums reviews. They're
so much easier without the phone ringing and email pinging.
I've also got five (count 'em) phone interviews to get through
today, so it's gonna be stressful.
Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of interviewing frontman
Mike Shinoda and bassist Dave 'Phoenix' Farrell from Linkin
Park, who I must confess are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine.
Like 14 million others, I absolutely loved their debut album,
2000's 'Hybrid Theory', though the follow-up, 'Meteora', was
a bit too much of a carbon copy. And as for that toilet collaboration
with rapper Jay-Z... um, let's not even go there. They're really
gonna set the cat among the pigeons with 'Minutes To Midnight',
a new album that Rick Rubin rightly maintains has "reinvented"
the band. "It doesn't sound like rap-rock", says the
maestro producer. Absolutely right, Rick. It's melodic and even
features guitar solos and, ulp, a Mellotron! One can only speculate
upon the affect it'll have on the band's fans, most of whom
wear those embarrassing mile-wide trousers and have wallets
on chains.
Speaking of which, I had to walk past the Astoria, where Linkin
Park were due to play in the evening, at the unearthly hour
of 10am, to rendez-vous with them at their hotel. There was
already a queue outside, and a young guy at the front thought
it was hilarious to heckle me in front of his mates for wearing
an Opeth shirt. Ignoring the buffoon, I quietly thought to myself:
"If only you knew where I'm headed..."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday
3rd May
Aaaaaaaargggh!
I've been having trouble with my equipment (no saucy jokes,
please). The faithful Sony tape recorder I bought in New York
on a trip to see Judas Priest many years ago suddenly gave up
the ghost during a phone interview with Toby Jepson a day or
two back, and all hell broke lose. Had to hurriedly postpone
a chat with Klaus Meine and dash up to London to buy a replacement.
I hate looking like an amateur, but Jepson, to his immense credit,
has been a complete gentleman about re-doing the interview.
"Shit happens, brother!" he says in a sympathetic
email. "Just call me whenever you want. I'm on that number
all day every day." Top fella. With new tape machine acquired,
I've been making up for lost time. Chris Cornell has been a
long-time hero of mine. Soundgarden were one of a very small
handful of grunge bands with any talent and I'm playing his
wonderful solo debut 'Euphoria Morning' as I type. He turned
out to be as eloquent and likeable as I'd hoped. I also had
a short yet entertaining conversation with Vinnie Paul about
his new band Hellyeah, and how a letter from Dave Grohl helped
to convince him he had to play music again for a living after
the senseless murder of his brother Dimebag Darrell.
Postie has dropped off two interesting new promos. Purely from
the abuse I took for enjoying Def Leppard's 'Yeah!', I know
that many people find covers albums pointless, yet there are
plenty of redeeming factors about the discs I've spent the afternoon
absorbing. I'll post about them in a little more detail later,
but was pleasantly surprised to hear that Tesla have covered
Uriah Heep's 'Stealin'' on 'Real To Reel', while a rocked-up
version of Sweet's 'Little Willy' is the opening track of Poison's
'Poison'd'.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday
1st May
Well,
that sound you hear is me collapsing into an exhausted, hung-over
heap. The marathon is finished, and you won't see me doing that again.
Six gigs in six different London venues in six days. That's 13 bands
in total.
Think I'll be gigged-out for a bit now. Which is a shame as I quite
fancy seeing the Enuff Z'Nuff, BulletBoys, Faster Pussycat package
that hits the Underworld tonight. Sadly (in some ways, at least),
I've got a phone interview with Chris Cornell that renders such a
trip impossible.
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