Thursday 31st October
Okay, some common sense at last. Motörhead
have postponed a UK tour which was due to start next
week. Lemmy, who claims to be “working my way back
to full fitness and rude health”, requires a little
more convalescence and who would deny such a request.
It’s tough to envisage him sitting on a beach, cocktail
in hand, but I do hope he puts his feet and uses the down-time
wisely. Get well soon, you old bugger.
Please God, nooooooooo! Alex McLeish has thrown his hat
into the ring a potential successor to ian Hollyway as
new Palace boss. “There hasn't been any contact
yet but I am available as a free agent,” he tells
Sky Sports. No wonder there hasn’t, and I bet you
are!!! I do not want this useless tit at my beloved football
club!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 30th October
There’s great news for fellow Starz fans.
An email from Richie Ranno confirms that their long awaited
UK debut at the 12 Bar Club, which sold out in just two
hours, has been moved to the Garage… it’s
the same day (Dec 18), there’s just a little more
elbow-room at the bar. See you there!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 29th October
The capital city’s transport was thrown
into disarray by the so-called storm they’re calling
St Jude. This sad, illogical state of affairs left my
friend Neil Pudney stranded in the wilds of Surrey and
unable to reach London for last night’s gig by Camel.
My own trip to the Barbican Centre was made by bus…
time-consuming but eventually I got there.
The pilgrimage was well worth it for the moment that the
lights dimmed and Andy Latimer walked onstage to the kind
of standing ovation that has been known to make grown
men weep. The guitarist’s health issues have been
well documented; indeed Camel played a farewell tour a
decade ago. Spookily, that trek’s London stop (at
the Astoria – a gig I attended) took place exactly
ten years ago to the day. Latimer had expressed worry
that his hands – which sometime freeze up, despite
the vast improvement in his condition following bone marrow
treatment – might let him down somewhere along the
tour. There were no such problems at the Barbican, he
played guitar (and indeed flute) with the kind of mastery
and fluency that’s becoming all too rare.
The first of two sets was taken up by a complete airing
of Camel’s 1975 album, ‘Music Inspired By
The Snow Goose’, a lavish instrumental piece from
1975 that hadn’t been performed since a gig at the
Royal Albert Hall that same year, accompanied by the London
Symphony Orchestra. There was no symphonic accompaniment
at the Barbican, but the services of two keyboard players
(regular incumbent Guy LeBlanc being assisted by Jason
Hart) filled the gaps so well that few could possibly
have cared.
The second segment was devoted to a ‘best-of’
repertoire. Naturally there were notable omissions but
given that Latimer is now 64, and of course the issues
from which he is recovering, we were extremely lucky to
get 135 minutes of consistently great quality. Andy was
visibly moved by the audience’s warmth. “It’s
lovely to be here”, he smiled, “at my age
it’s lovely to be anywhere.” For me, the night
peaked with its final two songs; the haunting, ethereal
strains of ‘For Today’ (“It’s
all about making the most of your lives”, explained
AL) being contrasted by ‘Lady Fantasy’s raunch.
There’s been talk of further live dates and possibly
even a new studio record, which would be Camel’s
first since ‘A Nod And A Wink’ back in 2002,
depending upon the response to these comeback gigs. It’s
a safe bet that, barring an act of God, that must now
remain a strong possibility. Here’s the set-list
for the latter half of the show: ‘Never Let Go’,
‘Song Within A Song’, ‘Echoes’,
‘The Hour Candle (A Song for My Father)’,
‘Tell Me’, ‘Watching The Bobbins’,
‘Fox Hill’ and ‘For Today’, plus
that encore of: ‘Lady Fantasy’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 28th October
It’s been a hectic fortnight: tonight’s
Camel gig at the Barbican is my ninth show in 12 days
(that’s 13 bands in total)… including two
football games. Am really looking forward to catching
up on some Zeds.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 27th October
Cynics and pundits had gleefully predicted a
cricket score for yesterday’s home game between
Palace and table-toppers Arsenal. Upon reflection, a 2-0
defeat was a great result. The Arse’s keeper, Wojciech
Szczesny, was deemed MOTM. Some pride restored for the
Eagles, I think…
As I type I’m enjoying a bit of Badfinger whilst
compiling the gig guide for Classic Rock Presents The
Blues. Still very hung over indeed though, as Eddie and
I departed Ling Towers at 9.20am for yesterday’s
game. When you consider that we live a mere 25 mins from
Selhurst Park that was perhaps a bit on the excessive
side, but you expect me to watch the Eagles whilst sober?
Think again!!
I was very sorry to hear of the
death of Lou Reed, a man whose work I have admired
a lot. What a shame that he went out on such a low with
‘Lulu’, that almost unlistenable collaboration
with Metallica, though Lou being Lou, held no truck with
the dismissive reviews declaring it: “Maybe the
best thing done by anyone, ever.” Brilliant!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 26th October
Yet more domestic squabbles served to ruin yesterday’s
night of prog-rock at the Garage. I won’t bore anyone
with the details, but I was in a foul mood as Touchstone
began what turned out to be a somewhat disappointing set.
I’m a fan of their music but on this occasion Kim
Seviour and company played a little too much from the
new album ‘Oceans Of Time’. A ropey sound
was a further hindrance. Suffice to say that I’ve
seen Touchstone play vastly superior gigs.
The Von Herzten Brothers, whose latest album ‘Nine
Lives’ nestles among my fave releases of 2013, were
only four or five songs into their set when I decided
to head back to Ling Towers. They hadn’t even played
my favourite track, ‘Flowers And Rust’…
what a bummer.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 25th October
“Welcome to the last night of the Progs!”
quipped Steve Hackett from the stage of the Royal Albert
Hall (Steve was referring to the fact that, like myself,
he’d attended Steven Wilson’s gig a few days
earlier). Hackett’s show was another celebration
of his legacy as a member of Genesis. Due to a clash with
a Crystal Palace match I’d missed his gig at the
Hammersmith Odeon back in May, so I was thrilled to be
afforded a second bite of the cherry. Steve had promised
to tweak the set-list and boy did he deliver the goods,
swapping no less than four songs from the Hammersmith
gig (which was filmed for DVD). The most exciting of these
additions were ‘The Return Of The Giant Hogweed’
and ‘The Fountain Of Salmacis’, both from
1971’s cherished ‘Nursery Cryme’ album.
The song selections, along with the RAH’s blissful
acoustics, served to make the show one of the very finest
in living memory.
Former Genesis singer Ray Wilson joined Steve for versions
of ‘The Carpet Crawlers’ and ‘I Know
What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)’, while Roine Stolt
of the Flower Kings doubled up on guitar during the aforementioned’…Hogweed’.
Elsewhere, although his scruffy attire was out of place
amid such magisterial surroundings, Asia’s John
Wetton stepped up to inject some vocal drama to ‘Firth
Of Fifth’. Amanda Lehmann was perhaps a little underwhelming
during an acoustic version of ‘Ripples’, but
what the heck… the rest of the show was just about
flawless. Check this out for a wet dream of a set-list:
‘Dance On A Volcano’, ‘Dancing With
The Moonlit Knight’, ‘Fly On A Windshield’,
‘The Carpet Crawlers’, ‘The Return Of
The Giant Hogweed’, ‘The Musical Box’,
‘Horizons’, ‘Unquiet Slumbers For The
Sleepers…’/‘…In That Quiet Earth’,
‘Afterglow’, ‘I Know What I Like (In
Your Wardrobe)’, ‘Firth Of Fifth’, ‘Ripples’,
‘The Fountain Of Salmacis’ and ‘Supper’s
Ready’, followed by ‘Watcher Of The Skies’
and ‘Los Endos’. Holy shit, Batman!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 24th October
What a very dignified press conference from Ian
Holloway and Steve Parish, following a ‘mutual’
parting of the ways which was announced yesterday afternoon.
Much gratitude to Ollie for all of his efforts on behalf
of CPFC, especially for masterminding those glorious Play-Off
wins over Shiteon and Twatford. The rollercoaster ride
continues…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 23rd October
I needed cheering up after a *very* painful night
at the footie… A Frantic Four earBOOK, with various
features including every song performed on the entire
reunion tour?! That’ll do very nicely indeed…
In the evening I headed up to the 12 Bar Club for an intimate
one-man show from Coney Hatch’s Carl Dixon. What
a great night. Carl played a shitload of Coney standards,
including ‘You Ain’t Got Me’, ‘First
Time For Everything’ (a request from my friend Dave
Craig), ‘To Feel The Feeling Again’, ‘The
Girl From Last Night’s Dream’, ‘She’s
Gone’, ‘Fantasy’, ‘Hey Operator’,
‘Monkey Bars’ and ‘Devil’s Deck’
as well as several from the excellent new album ‘4’
(among them ‘Blown Away’, ‘Keep Driving’,
‘Holding On’ and ‘Down ‘N’
Dirty’). Besides all of this Carl revisited his
tenures with April Wine (‘Come Hear The Band’)
and The Guess Who (‘American Woman’) and ran
through such covers as ‘Itchycoo Park’, ‘Band
On The Run’, Bad Co’s ‘Ready For Love’,
‘More Than A Feeling’ by Boston, Zep’s
‘Over The Hills And Far Away’ and a brilliant
rendition of ‘Can’t Find My Way Home’
by Blind Faith.
There was also a smattering of solo material, including
‘Stitches, Sutures And Staples’, a song that
detailed the head-on car crash that took him to death’s
door some years ago – so raw it sent his daughter
scuttling from room, and me towards a purchase of a copy
of its parent album, ‘Lucky Dog’.
And after that? Beer, beer and more beer, some quality
natter with Carl, more beer, a trip across the road to
the Crobar and (inevitably) a night bus back to South
London. Grooaaaan… Not again??!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 22nd October
My latest trip to Selhurst Park had promised
so much and yet delivered so little. The fans, management
and players of Crystal Palace all knew that to have any
chance of avoiding relegation from the Premier League,
maximum points must be claimed from home games against
our fellow strugglers. The Eagles started fantastically
well against Fulham, taking the lead and dominating possession.
Then, completely out of the blue, the visitors scored
a wonder goal to equalise and undeservedly took the lead
before half-time. By the final whistle Fulham had notched
two further goals, Palace’s formation and confidence
having tumbled like a house of cards. Taking the train
home in silence, Eddie and I felt completely numb. Truthfully,
I still do…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 21st October
Those who are ambivalent towards Steven Wilson
(or worse…) should look away now. Compiling Classic
Rock magazine’s recent Buyers Guide has led me to
the conclusion that the 45-year-old former (?) Porcupine
Tree leader is now almost thoroughly incapable of making
a duff record.
Last night’s gig at the Royal Albert Hall was a
very special event indeed. It began with an arty 20-minute
film show of pedestrians passing by a brick wall before
the arrival of a mysterious busker – who eventually
reveals himself to be Wilson by strumming the opening
chords to PT’s ‘Trains’. Robert Fripp
and Steve Hackett, both present in the audience, would
have appreciated the theatrical touch.
This was the 100th show of a world tour for the God-like
‘The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)’
and since appearing at the Festival Hall in March, SW
has fine-tuned his backing group, replacing drummer Marco
Minnemann with former Zappa collaborator Chad Wackerman.
What a crack bunch of musicians! The guitar playing of
Guthrie Govan was simply out of this world. Wilson also
switched the set-list around, daring to introduce a new
composition with a working title of ‘Wreckage’
to book-end the first of two sets. Before pleading “very
respectfully” with the audience not to upload the
song onto the web due to its status as a work in progress
he grinned: “It’s 15 minutes long… I
don’t really do short”. Later on, introducing
‘Raider II’, his serial killer-inspired epic,
Steven related how he’d listened to NWOBHM heroes
Fist in his car whilst driving to the RAH and came to
envy their ability to write more concisely. “This
is an edited version of ‘Raider II’,”
he teased, “and it *still* lasts for 15 minutes!”
His fans wouldn’t have it any other way.
The set-list ran as follows: ‘Trains’, ‘Luminol’,
‘Postcard’, ‘The Holy Drinker’,
‘Drive Home’, ‘Wreckage’, ‘The
Watchmaker’, ‘Index’, ‘Sectarian’,
‘Harmony Korine’, ‘Raider II’,
‘The Raven That Refused To Sing’ and an encore
of PR’s early classic ‘Radioactive Toy’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 20th October
A lie-in till ten o’clock, Lars Ulrich
interview transcript, roast dinner and Strictly Come Dancing,
a mid-afternoon 10K run and long soak in bath, then drinks
with Neil Pudney and Pudney before Steven Wilson’s
gig at the Royal Albert Hall. Well, I’ve definitely
had worse Sundays!
With no game for my beloved Crystal Palace till Monday
evening, I departed Ling Towers happy in the knowledge
that fellow strugglers Sunderland, Hull, Cardiff and Norwich
(sorry Tony Crowley) had all suffered defeats… heavy
ones in most cases. My destination was the Live Evil Festival
at the Garage. With a bus replacement on the Overground
link and the Northern line out of action, the journey
across London took three times as long as usual. As I
arrived the Chilean variety of Pentagram, who play Slayer-esque
thrash (as opposed to the better known Virginian-based
doom-metal veterans of the same name) had ownership of
the stage. Rather good they were, too.
The venue was rammed to the hilt with a crowd that looked
like it had spent the entire day on the ale. Luckily apart
from some loonies at the front they were too pissed (and
in many cases far too ancient) to mosh around! What many
of them did do, however, was smoke – defiantly and
pointedly in opposition to those of us that pointed out
it is no longer permitted. Dickheads.
Luckily, headliners Satan made it all worthwhile. With
the line-up responsible for their 1983 ‘Court In
The Act’ album recently reunited, back in the spring
– an incredible three decades later (!) –
the NWOBHM combo released an excellent follow-up entitled
‘Life Sentence’. Brian Ross’ eyesight
might have deteriorated to the point where the set-list
became illegible, but his voice remains surprisingly strong.
Songs such as ‘Time To Die’ and ‘Siege
Mentality’ from ‘Life Sentence’ were
as strong as anything offered on Satan’s cult favourite
debut. No wonder they did six of the buggers! So amazing
was the response that Ross took his life in his hands
and announced: “I’d forgotten was it was like
to play for a decent crowd in England. We’re from
Newcastle and people just don’t wanna know; it sucks.
You guys should tell Newcastle how to enjoy themselves.”
That comment might come back to bite him! Till then, here’s
the set-list: ‘Into The Fire (Intro)’/‘Trial
By Fire’, ‘Blades Of Steel’, ‘Time
To Die’, ‘Twenty Twenty-Five’, ‘Oppression’,
‘Break Free’, ‘Incantations’,
‘The Ritual’, ‘Siege Mentality’,
‘Hunt You Down’, ‘Testimony’,
‘No Turning Back’, ‘Cenotaph’,
‘Alone In The Dark’ and an encore of ‘Kiss
Of Death’. Superb stuff!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 19th October
Did anyone else at Wembley last night reckon
that Shinedown edged it over Alter Bridge? Brent Smith’s
Evangelical-style stage shtick is a bit OTT (not to mention
well rehearsed) but they will be back at the Arena as
headliners, mark my words.
My buddy Steve ‘No Relation’ Way was kind
enough to offer a lift to Wembley, and although the North
Circular traffic did its best to scupper our night, I
gained entry to the Arena mere seconds before Grammy winners
Halestorm got the Friday night party started (poor ol’
Steve was still parking the car!). Sporting studded jacket,
spray-on pants and high heels, Lzzy Hale is the quarter’s
undoubted star turn, her gutsy voice well suited to a
cover of Judas Priest’s ‘Dissident Aggressor’.
As Myles Kennedy later observed of the Pennsylvanians:
“That’s the future right there”.
Juxtaposing hard-hitters such as ‘Devour’,
‘Enemies’ and ‘Bully’ with the
lighter-waving likes of ‘I’ll Follow You’
and a delicious ‘Second Chance’, plus a singalong
cover of Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’, Shinedown
delivered a master-class in arena presentation that Alter
Bridge really couldn’t follow. The latter’s
front-of-house live sound has been shit for a number of
years; at Wembley it was an awful, thudding, muddy mess.
Kennedy is deservedly regarded among hard rock’s
finest vocalists, so my heart went out to him when he
forgot the lyrics to a first encore of ‘Slip To
The Void’, a song that he has sung many, many times
before (“I’ve had nightmares about going awry
with that one before 12,000 of our closest friends,”
Myles winced). With a longer set, a full complement of
lights and a pumped-up crowd, AB might have got away with
this slightly below-par display but for the excellence
of their special guests. Ah well, them’s the breaks.
Their set-list ran as follows: ‘Addicted To Pain’,
‘White Knuckles’, ‘Come To Life’,
‘Before Tomorrow Comes’, ‘Farther Than
the Sun’, ‘Brand New Start’, ‘Cry
Of Achilles’, ‘Ghost Of Days Gone By’,
‘The Uninvited’, ‘Ties That Bind’,
‘Broken Wings’, ‘Metalingus’,
‘Blackbird’, ‘Watch Over You (Acoustic)’,
‘Rise Today and ‘Open Your Eyes’, plus
‘Slip To The Void’ and ‘Isolation’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 18th October
Am gutted that I cannot be in Nottingham for
this weekend’s Firefest. Childcare issues prevent
me from straying too far from the homestead. My Thursday
evening was spent at the Islington Academy watching the
Quireboys, and also a little of their support act, Bonafide.
The up ‘n’ coming Swedes looked at home on
a big stage and had some very good hard rockin’
tunes.
A fine ol’ gang of peeps had gathered, including
Andy Beare, Michele Key and a gaggle of the Crobar’s
finest: Malcolm Dome, Jerry Ewing, John Dryland and Tyrina
Gallagher. There was also an ‘after-show’
bash in the venue’s bar. No wonder, then, that the
evening descended into silliness. The QBs played quite
a lot of tunes from their new album, ‘Beautiful
Curse’. Guitarist Guy Griffin later told me they
had included eight (or was it nine?) of its tracks…
it didn’t seem OTT in any way – always the
sign of a good record.
Hangover aside… the only downer? Some fella and
his girlfriend came over to inform me that my barnet makes
me look like Vim Feugo, the Adrian Edmondson character
from Bad News. Hold me back!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 17th October
Ted Nugent will always be among this planet’s
the most loathsome inhabitants. It’s extremely tough
to be objective about someone that has called you a “Special
Olympics-level journalist” and threatened to gut
you with a hunting knife but, purely as a long-time fan
of the Loudman’s music, I'm chuffed to have received
my copy of his new triple-disc concert package, ‘Ultralive
Ballsticrock’. I would go and see The Nuge live
any day of the week. Sporting a suitable disguise, of
course!
Since the above post went up on my Facebook page, several
people wrote to enquire about Ted’s beef with yours
truly. It’s a loo-o-o-o-ong story. Part of it is
that several years ago I went to the States to interview
him for a potential CR cover story. During our photosession,
Lynyrd Skynyrd – a band he was touring with at the
time – came on the radio and he said: “Turn
that shit off”. We all assumed that he was joking.
“No, I mean it. Turn that fucking hillbilly shit
off.” So I wrote about the incident in my feature.
Turns out he was not best pleased. My underwear now turns
brown at the mere mention of his name.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 16th October
Tough luck Ukraine, you might have scored eight
against the part-timers of San Marino but it’s England
who book their plane tix to World Cup Finals thanks to
last night’s blinding 2-0 victory. Still a bit shaky
at the back, perhaps, but we made it!! Believe me, I have
the hangover to prove this fact.
Just spotted this
amazing interview with Ginger Baker in Rolling Stone.
What a grouch! It’s utterly brilliant. Did he really
say: “Jack Bruce? Who?!”
I love to read about these cantankerous old rock stars,
so long as it’s not me in the firing line. This
one with Ginger’s old sparring partner Jack
Bruce *was* one of mine, and it made headlines around
the world. Even five years later it still makes me laugh.
As he walked away to face the paparazzi the miserable
git could still be heard chuntering away: “Led Zeppelin…
what a load of old bollocks!”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 15th October
It’s 6.01pm as I type this, the sun’s
over the yardarm, and it’s time for a pint of white
wine as the warm-up for the crucial England-Poland game
begins. Nothing less than a victory will do. Come on the
Three Lions!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 14th October
During the long haul home from Essex I took a
very exciting phone call. It seems that Status Quo’s
Frantic Four line-up are to perform a supposedly ‘final’
bout of reunion shows in March and April. As Alan Partridge
might exclaim: “Back of the net!” Just received
the press release and am very amused to note they have
used a quote of mine, viz... As Classic Rock wrote: “Fuck
me, dreams do come true”! Indeed they do –
twice!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 13th October
Last night's trip to the wilds of Essex for the
Dan Reed Network’s date at the Enchanted Festival
was well worth all of the time, $$$ and effort involved.
There was much excitement when the Portland-based quintet
reunited in the hometown last New Year’s Eve. Returning
to the UK as part of a “one-day celebration of music,
art, poetry and vision” at a hotel and health spa
in Essex was a scenario that few foresaw, but given their
eclectic sound belatedly speaking it made a little more
sense.
After a somewhat gruelling four-hour journey (!) a rock
opera was taking place in one of the main bar areas as
I bowled up at the Greenwoods Health & Beauty Spa.
Amazingly, the first person I saw whilst buying a very
large lass of house white wine was Les Battersby from
Coronation Street. And the second… Dan Reed! He
seemed both excited and nervous. “After twenty years,
I just hope I can remember the words,” smiled the
singer.
The show took place in a humongous wedding marquis out
on a rolling lawn. Due to time restraints the Network’s
90-min set omitted quite a few selections that I’d
love to have heard (notably ‘Ritual’, ‘Slam’,
‘Lover’, ‘Tamin’ The Wild Nights’
and ‘Resurrect’) but most of the best-loved
songs were rolled out. It also featured a far amount of
chat & banter about the early days. Joking around
and taking photos of one another on their mobile phones,
the band were having a ball – you just cannot fake
that level of enthusiasm. Those that still have long hair
(namely guitarist Brion James and keysman Blake Sakomoto)
now sport various tinges of grey but, musically speaking,
they remain as special as ever. The super-funky ‘Baby
Don’t Fade’ and ‘Stronger Than Steel’,
an irresistible wisp of romantic slush dedicated to a
newly engaged couple from whom Reed had once performed
one of his house shows, reminded us of their diversity.
Almost before we knew it, time was up. “We’ll
be coming back next year for a really big festival, I
can’t tell you which but it rhymes with Pound Road”,
grinned Dan from the stage, before signing off with an
acoustic song – a sumptuous ‘Long Way To Go’,
what else? – intended to preserve the peace with
the event’s neighbours. As the applause died down
and I began pondering the route back to my hotel on the
other side of town, I was left with one of those ‘Did-that-really-just-happen?’
feelings. Luckily it most certainly did, and I had jotted
down the set-list for proof… ‘Cruise Together’,
‘Forgot To Make Her Mine’, ‘Under My
Skin’, ‘Baby Now I’, ‘Rainbow
Child’, ‘Come Back Baby’, ‘Make
It Easy’, ‘Tiger In A Dress’, ‘Baby
Don’t Fade’, ‘Stronger Than Steel’,
‘I’m So Sorry’, ‘Get To You’
and ‘Long Way To Go’. [Edit: My friend and
fellow scribe Mik Gaffney later informed me that both
‘Ritual’ and ‘Seven Sisters Road’
*were* both on the list; the band must have simply run
out of time…]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 12th October
Just back from a rather bibulous (© Nick
Shilton) evening in the company of those evil Black Spiders,
who played the Electric Ballroom in Camden. Many beers
were consumed in the company of an extremely motley crew
that included Andy Beare and, briefly, Danny Bowes of
Thunder, who was in the pub before the show.
The Spiders were returning from a lengthy hiatus to promote
their long-awaited second album, ‘This Savage Land’.
It’s a bit less immediate than their debut, but
I’ll tell you what… repeated plays bring rich
rewards. I had no complaints with them playing all but
two of its selections during a powerhouse 75-minute display.
The set was consistently strong but the band really upped
their game during the last half-hour of the show. I was
particularly impressed by ‘Teenage Knife Gang’,
which has a terrific ‘Overkill’ (Motörhead)-esque
ending, and the two-fingered salute of ‘Stick It
To The Man’. Here’s what was played: ‘Knock
You Out’, ‘Stay Down’, ‘Creatures’,
‘Kiss Tried to Kill Me’, ‘Sleepy Demon’,
‘Trouble’, ‘Balls’, ‘Put
Love In Its Place’, ‘Just Like A Woman’
and ‘Teenage Knife Gang’, followed by ‘St
Peter’, ‘Stick It To The Man’ and ‘What
Good’s A Rock Without A Roll?’.
Managed to avoid the score of the England-Montenegro game
till I stumbled home. Sat and watched approvingly of the
game’s highlights before falling face down into
plate of spicy wings and chips. Ugggh. Bring on Poland
on Tuesday night
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 11th October
Just got off the phone from an interview with
Fish, who was on the road. Despite being in Poland at
the time, and the fact that he answered his mobile with
the words: “Hello, Samaritans!”, the big fella
was in rather fine form. Response to his new album, ‘A
Feast Of Consequences’, has been consistently strong
and the tour dates are selling well. “It feels like
1984 all over again,” he chirruped with tongue in
cheek, before reminding yours truly that even if England
win this evening’s game with Montenegro at Wembley
– which of course they should! – World Cup
qualification will most probably go down to the final
game on Tuesday night. England are at home to bogey team
Poland (from where Fish was taking my call), and only
a madman would bet on their Group H rivals Ukraine slipping
up against the part-timers of San Marino, which means
that maximum points will be required: No slip-ups allowed!
“You’d better wear your brown corduroys,”
he advised. It seemed churlish to remind him that Scotland’s
players, management and supporters will be doing what
they always do during the big tournaments… i.e.
staying home. There’s such a thing as artist-journo
relations to maintain, after all!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 10th October
Having spent the last four or five days working
my way through Bob Daisley’s autobiography, For
Facts Sake, I burned the midnight oil to finish the final
few chapters before placing an early morning phone call
to the Australian residence of the former Rainbow/Ozzy
Osbourne/bassist. The results of our conversation, during
which he revealed some interesting stuff about the Blizzard
Of Ozz days and spoke fondly of his two-album tenure in
the mighty Heep, can be seen here.
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Wednesday 9th October
Very glad that I defied my raging hangover to
check out last night’s gig by the Joplin-esque,
Amazonian, potty-mouthed sexpot Dana Fuchs at the Borderline.
You may not have heard of Dana yet… but mark my
words, you will!!
Following the excesses of the previous night I remained
firmly off the grog, indeed the mere whiff of my friend
Andy Beare’s pint of Guinness almost turned my stomach.
We both enjoyed a semi-acoustic support slot from former
Blues Caravan-er Dani Wilde, who uses a smouldering voice
to deliver a fine set of self-penned tunes such as ‘Call
On Me’. Her cover of Foy Vance’s ‘Shed
A Little Light’ set the room alight and even got
the crowd singing along.
Promoting her third album, ‘Bliss Avenue’
– a Ling Towers heavy rotation favourite that mixes
blues with funk, gospel, honky-tonk country and hard driving
rock – Florida-born Fuchs hit the stage running.
“I’ll give you guys my heart and soul tonight
and you give it back, right?” she asked and the
crowd roared in the affirmative. “Okay, I think
we have a contract. Tonight we’re gonna talk religion,
politics, death and addiction. You might get a refund
if you leave now.” Nobody headed for the exit…
In a matter of minutes the sweat was pouring off the singer,
who a few years ago played the title role in the off-Broadway
musical Love, Janis. Covering every inch of the tiny stage,
falling to her knees and getting the faces of those lucky
enough to be in the front rows, she certainly has star
quality in abundance. There were times when the pudding
was over-egged a little, and she’s about as far
from a shrinking violet as you could possibly get, but
if Dee Snider and Seb Bach had a secret female love child
that became a blues singer, Dana Fuchs is what she’s
sound like. Still wondering what the fuss is all about?
Then click here.
BTW, the set-list ran as follows: ‘Almost Home’,
‘Bliss Avenue’, ‘How Did Things Get
This Way’, ‘Handful Too Many’, ‘Livin’
On Sunday’, ‘So Hard To Move’, ‘Rodents
In The Attic’, ‘Nothin’ On My Mind’,
‘Long Long Game’ and ‘Misery’,
followed by an encore of ‘Keep On Walkin’’.
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Tuesday 8th October
Ouch, my head! You go out for some nosebag and
a quiet drink with friends and wake up on a night bus,
going in the wrong direction, in Kent at 4am... what a
great start to the week! (NOT). Then again, one asks for
it if your posse includes Paul Newcomb, John Dryland,
Harj Kallah, Tyrina Gallagher and Lauren Archer. How to
achieve instant disaster… just add a fifth carafe
of white wine, then simmer slowly over a few more jars
in the Crobar! As Nick Shilton might have said: ’Twas
a most bibulous evening!! (Google it, I had to!).
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Sunday 6th October
The media had made much of Palace’s return
to Anfield, suggesting the possibility of another 9-0
humbling (though, of course, few of those same pundits
bothered to mention that the Eagles famously gained revenge
over Liverpool in the semi-final of that year’s
FA Cup in what, to yours truly, is remembered as the Greatest
Football Game Of All Time). With the home side having
raced into a 2-0 lead, at times the difference in class
was almost laughable. And when the ref awarded *yet another*
dodgy penalty against Ollie’s men (FFS!... THE CHALLENGE
WAS OUTSIDE THE F**KING BOX!!), those predictions assumed
a worrying ring of possibility. After the interval I took
heart from Palace’s display; though the game was
already over as a contest, we pulled the score back to
3-1 and Speroni closed shop at the other end. The way
I prefer to look at things, we won the second half 1-0,
though this version doesn’t hide the fact that the
Eagles from SE25 sit second from bottom in the table without
a League win since the final day of August. Very worrying
indeed, though perhaps not too surprising when all’s
said and done…
Anyway, with four months to go till my half-marathon I’m
upping the training. Have just completed a 10K before
teatime; that’s five big runs in six days. Now for
a long soak in the bath, some more of Bob Daisley’s
book and a chill-out before the return of the brilliant
Homeland.
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Saturday 5th October
Here’s a nice pic from yesterday’s
Metallica interview in London’s West End. Lars Ulrich
and company have an ambitious new 3-D movie entitled Metallica:
Through The Never that has really set the cat among the
pigeons. Strange to think that I first met Lars in the
fabled Shades Records store back in 1984, when he brought
in a vinyl test pressing of a l’il album called
‘Ride The Lightning’. It was great to talk
to him again...
Afterwards I headed across to Camden to join Andy Beare
for a few bevvies at Romeo’s Daughter’s Underworld
gig. The band played the longest set I’d seen from
them. It felt a bit lopsided in that the first 50 of its
90 minutes featured just one song from their 1998 self-titled
debut… but, hey… the new album, ‘Rapture’,
is wonderful and as God-like as a reinstated ‘Hymn
(Look Through Golden Eyes)’ was, it’s positive
to see them refrain from using their more iconic tunes
as a crutch. I can’t hear ‘Talking Love’
without thinking of hairspray-era Heart, but that’s
okay because Ann Wilson and company had a big hit with
RD’s own ‘Wild Child’. “Here’s
a song that was once covered by a very famous band; everyone
thinks that they wrote it but it’s one of ours!”
said Leigh Matty with a smile. My fave bit came during
the chorus of ‘Bittersweet’ which goes “I
still love you/And I want to take you home” when
Leigh blew a kiss across the room and waved to her man,
FM’s Merv ‘The Swerve’ Goldsworthy,
at the mixing desk. Awww guys, get a room! Haha! Before
previewing a song called ‘Perfect Plan’, Matty
revealed that the band have actually started work on a
new album: “It’s a miracle! It took us 18
years to make a third album and here we are making a fourth
[within a year].” For me, it can’t arrive
soon enough. Here’s the set-list: ‘Trippin’
Out’, ‘Attracted To The Animal’, ‘Keep
Walking’, ‘Lightning’, ‘Perfect
Plan’, ‘Talking Love’, ‘Bittersweet’,
‘Dancing Slow’, ‘Velvet Tongue’,
‘Cannot Be The One’, ‘Alive’,
‘Stay With Me Tonight’, an acoustic version
of ‘Will Be’, ‘Inside Out’, ‘I
Cry Myself To Sleep At Night’ and ‘Heaven
In The Back Seat’, followed by ‘Hymn (Look
Through Golden Eyes)’ and ‘Wild Child’.
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Friday 4th October
Yet more interview tape transcript… Coney
Hatch, Stryper… busy, busy, busy!
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Thursday 3rd October
I’ve been doing some reviews for the new
issue of Prog magazine. They’ve let me loose on
‘A Feast Of Consequences’ by Fish, which I
like more and more with every spin, and a three CD/two
DVD package (complete with 5.1 sound) boxed set of Steve
Hackett’s recent Genesis-themed gig at Hammersmith.
I was unable to attend said concert as it clashed with
a home game for my beloved CPFC… It looks like an
unbelievably good show!
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Wednesday 2nd October
I’d love to have attended this great little festival
at the weekend but domestic matters (childcare, specifically…)
and geographical difficulties look likely to scupper such
hopes. Here’s wishing Jeff Braithwaite of Chariot
and all the organisers of Metalwave
the very best of luck with it!!
Can the rumour *really* be true? Are Starz going to play
London’s 12 Bar Club on December 18??!! It appears
so, guitarist Richie Ranno just replied to my email…
their long-awaited debut on UK soil is actually happening!
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Tuesday 1st October
With a new issue of Classic Rock Presents AOR
about to enter the production phase, much of this week
has been spent transcribing interviews. Just had a chat
with former Danger Danger frontman Paul Laine about his
new Southern/country-tinged project Dark Horse (he prefers
the former term). It made me whip out my vinyl of the
Canadian’s 1990 album ‘Stick It In Your Ear’
for a quick refresher… the first time I’d
heard the Bruce Fairbairn-produced cult classic in quite
a few years.
P.S. This month’s Playlist
and YouTube amendments are up!
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