No Theme No Scene: Piley, Popeapedia and Mondo go freestyle for the March Podrophenia, pinging in random tracks. Expect singles from Action Man (yes he of the eagle eyes and gripping hands), a disco refit of Tubular Bells, streaker-glam, TV Themes, a mod-stomping Elvis cover, Bob Seger then and now and a pop quiz!
Load up your lugholes here....
The March Madness edish of Podrophenia is up for download, and it's possibly our most eccentric session yet..
Mae West goes Rock ‘n’ Roll. Petula Clark goes disco, Reginald Bosanquet goes funky, Hawkwind get schlagerd and there's a space-pop nugget wherein aliens land looking for new life in Northampton!See the info-tainment clip on the single below...
Special guest Grant Philpott brings in some of his spoken word mash-ups (including Jimmy Smith meets Mark E Smith and Pam Ayres with Roy Ayres) and talks about his television work on The Word, the Big Breakfast and his ten years on TV Burp…
There's Essex Films, Kitchen bands and Shart songs - and an 8 bit quiz based around rock classics getting digitised
All here, all yours and all free
Hells bells and hat's a popping - worra night of heavy volume, hi def amazingness at Southend's most musical boozer. And rammed to the point of the pub doors being locked and - one-in/one-out by ten of the clock. 'Carnage' as Ms Sadie Hasler called it
So smart work Southenders. Glowing salutes and toots are due to all the
drinkers and dancers, the vinyl buyers, those that swished in from
Southend, Londinium and Holland for the hi-jinx, the top rocking Canvey
massive that caused a health and safety alert of hi-vol and max
capacity...
Double Headed Jester, Eight Rounds Rapid and The Ends.... seen below
Double Headed Jester
Eight Rounds Rapid
The Ends
And to Mark Lancaster for being the Mr Benn style costume shop
merch-assistant, and of course my Podrophonic other half Piley for gritting and grinding
through the back agg' - even if he did flash his Playtex girdle to
anyone within peeping distance.
But fret-not, if you couldn't make (or get in to) the gig - there's no need for tears or hair-tearing, as the boys will be doing an instore at Fives, Leigh Broadway this Saturday, 8th March 11:30. Singles (and signings), stickers and badges all there for the bagging of.... There's an interweb flyer here so take one and tell a pal....
There's a new Twitter account in town TMFTL - Found Peel Band Names. A scrapbook of spotted oddities and inspirations that sound like imaginary John Peel bands .
First up Fat Panda (found at 22 Words). Who, could possibly be a Moby Grape era outfit, or something from the Madchester scene...
If you've got, any TMFTL suggestions - posts 'em hereabouts
Scuse the brevity of the blog-post pals, but it's one handed typing all the way at the mo..
How about this. After a nippy tweet from me to the Lamacq Show last week - they were looking for guests for the Good Day/ Bad Day feature - I was booked in for a spot yesterday's show.
Which way did I choose? Tune in below at 50 minutes in for the reveal...as well as first singles, gigs and album info.
Do you know I can feel a Pop-Master revisit calling
The Quinn Martin style epilogue - Pal Lamacq gave me a 'callback' as they say - an unprompted shout and dedication on tonight's show.too at 2hr 34 mins...
Two weeks of polite digital bustling and some shuffling of email exchanges between industry types, personal assistants and Vive Le Rockers have finally staked us a date for an interview with the high priest of Goth Rock and overlord of the ebony underworld - Peter Murphy. Featuring as part of a hefty retrospective in support the Bauhaus back catalogue, an overview of his solo years.and spotlighting his current '35 years of Bauhaus' tour,
The time-slot is sorted and 'Skype call' red-ringed on the calendar: Sunday 12th May, 7pm GMT
Someone in the know had advised me 'tread carefully he can a bit prickly'. A subtle check with his PA the day before - 'anything I should avoid' (alluding to his meth-based DUI arrest) gets me a 'No we're all good' reply.
So, Sunday 12th May, 7pm GMT. 'Skype call'
I'm settled in with three pages of deep-reaching, heavily researched questions. Dial up, click, connect - and we're away with the tomb-like tones of Peter Murphy a'rumbling from the laptop..........
ME: How's the tour going
PM: Are you calling from London
ME: No Southend
*connection drops - the Skype's gone out*
PM: - This will probably happen again. Oh I used to come there as a child. So....
*connection drops* ( he knows, you know)
ME: I was thinking, for some additional perspective on the piece - of bringing in noir/horror authors (Cathi Unsworth and Syd Moore both Bauhaus fans) for their memories and experiences of the band
PM: Who's writing the piece you or them
ME: Oh, I am
PM *snapping* I am neither a horror nor a noir artist' - says the artist currently touring '35 years of Bauhaus' his debut single being Bela Lugosi's Dead, and star of the bite-night pics The Hunger and Twilight - I think we're done here
*Drops the call. Click. Gone* Time 7:05 GMT
A kick in the Skype. Press eject and give me the twerp
.
It could have been my imagination, a fault on the line perhaps, or even some rogue electronic crackle - but I'm almost certain I heard a crack of thunder, a puff of sulphur smoke and the manic flapping of bat wings as Count Murphy made his exit stage left?.
Either way, bagsy I get to review his new due-soon solo album please..
In the niche genre: songs with ear-cringing out of tune arrangements.. this, with it's 'clang, clang, clang went the trolley' horn riff has to be one of the finest..
Behold: the Les Dawson of the mod scene. It couldn't be Rod could it? He was a Shotgun Expresser
Following on from the Radio Podrophenia roadshow with a storming performance from TV Smith (full report here - we bring you, the lost TV themed Pouchcast. That's....
TV as in television, not Smith
Pouchcast as in Paul from Pouch of Douglas, off the subs bench and in for me when I was off sick.
And lost - as this show aired live in April, but so far has never been uploaded for download
If you're wondering where any new Podrophenias are Chance Radio is undergoing maintenance, so normal service should be resumed shortly
And we'd only popped to the pub for a mid-afternoon set by a barbershop quartet who never arrived. All true! Mrs M and myself had peddle-powered the fifteen minute cycle ride from home to Southend's most rock 'n' roll local The Railway, and parked ourselves with three generations of Piley to take in the afternoon's open mic spot.
You may remember I'd had some banter recently with Pal Wilko for a Vive Le Rock feature - so a pleasure then to spot him at the bar for a quick hello and a handshake, while he was enjoying a gin, with Southend legend French Henry. Midway through our natter, MC and pianist for the open mic (and recent Blow Up signing) Dave Woodcock asked Wilko would he fancy doing a spot. After some gentle nudging and shuffling with Wilko on a lent guitar (why he's not playing a regulation Tele), a borrowed bass for me and pub owner Dave Dulake installed on drums we were off and away within minutes.
This improv gig blasted off so smartly there was no time to text or alert mates who may have been out, about or nearby, including Feelgoods fan Piley who'd left only a few moments earlier. I can't give you a breakdown of 20/30 minute Jubilee Jam, but Wooly Bully, High Heeled Sneakers were in there. And how mind-bogglingly bizarre to have been watching Wilko on Friday's Punk Britannia the previous evening putting Southend on the musical timeline, and just a handful of hours later to be playing Feelgoods classic She Does It Right, looking left and there's the skitter-king working his Thames Delta voodoo.
(he band L to R: me (bass), Kate Johnston (guitar), Wilko, Unknown (percussion), Dave Woodcock (piano ) Dave Dulake (drums) not pictured
As it unfolded, this spontaneous set felt like a fuggy is-this-actually-happening blur - while it was actually happening. Almost a week later, it still seems like some surreal waking dream. Thankfully Mrs M had the good sense and presence to snap a few pics (full set here) and luckily I was chatting to a chap on Sunday who videoed the entire set. I'll be sure to keep you posted....
Speaking of all things Railway related - Marmite and myself will be back there, DJing this Sunday from 4 til' turnout time playing, funk, soul, jump blues, R 'n' B, funky covers in around the bands. With Southend's finest jazzers The Basey Brothers fronted by the spectacularly talented Jess Noah firing up from 8pm. If you can't make the gig, redirect your ears to Radio Novalujon. for a live broadcast.
One possible from my playlist and a track covered by the Feelgoods is Freddie King's romper-stomper of a shuffle..
We didn't get to the Bronx, but Battery Park, yes - on our last full day in New York, passing through on route to the Staten Island Ferry for a sail-by sighting of the Statue of Liberty.
So what was New York like? Everything we'd hoped for at twice the scale. An all-absorbing, truly incredible metropolis - a clean, friendly and super-safe city (we were strolling around the back streets at 11 pm, riding the subways and mooching Central Park as dusk turned to dark – and felt perfectly fine and unrattled). Instantly familiar from films, TV (and comics) we were immediately installed, settled and at home from the first footsteps into Fifth Avenue.
At last: the lengthy wait since Record Breakers is over
So what sights were seen - Harlem and Spanish Harlem (by night), Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building, New York Public Library, the Dakota Building, Central Park, the Chelsea Hotel, the Flat Iron building, West Village, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Times Square, Union Square, Washington Square, Brooklyn (both DUMBO and Williamsburg by way of two visits), a panoramic spread from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building (with 25 miles visibility).
86 floors straight down
And take note any future trip-takers some of the finest views to be had came from: the East River Ferry and its skyline commuter cruise - followed by the hair-tingling walk back across Brooklyn Bridge, the High Line and its newly-landscaped elevated railway aspect and finally gliding/hovering across East River riding the Roosevelt Island Tramway.
Roosevelt Island Tramway (as seen in Spider-Man 1) - yes we did brave a ride
For eats Sarge’s Deli is the place to park up (where I had my first Reuben) and my recommendation for a chow down – 24 hour service, on the premises prepared meats and home-made corn beef without any of the rush and bustle of Carnegie Deli or the NY's higher profile eateries - and is almost exclusively non-touristy. For shops J J’s Hat Centre will fit all your get ahead needs.
I've never returned from any holiday - anywhere! unable to shake off the sparkle of a visit like our trip to New York.
Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building
Central Park and city
If you do get the chance to go - jump at it! I'm already prepping a tick-list for round two... while listening to New York's finest jazz station WBGO, which has given jazz a new and panoramic extra dimension after hearing it soundtracking the city of hootin'-tootin' cabs, steaming manholes and endlessly stretching skyscrapers
Looking south Brooklyn on the left and New Jersey on the right - Flat Iron in the middle
Should you fancy a squint at the full set of New York Pics have a peep hereabouts.
Only a couple of trips to record shops: Rebel Rebel in Greenwich Village where a Fania comp and Joe Batann were bagged, and Earwax in Brooklyn for DJ Shadow and Sharon Jones...
When an album badges and brands itself as Music for Mentalists - you know you'll be stepping a toe into a moral minefield of musical doings. Piley and I were first given the nudge on this one from Dan (the Bacon Man). It's an album co-compiled by Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond gathering together a black museum of oddities and curios from middling slebs: Reginald Bosanquet, Jim Bowen David Carradine - unknown but bizzaro bods Linda Jarman, Martin Harvey, Mavin James. And John Collier's Saturday Night Suit.
How did the project happen? Nick Saloman: The comp was mostly the work of my mate Mick Dillingham who is a
longtime collector of what he calls 'qual-crap'. 'Gotcha' is one of his
discoveries. A rather disturbing song.
Based on John Fowles The Collector, a key piece in the collection is Gotcha by Michael 'Boon' Elphick - where he
outranks (in all senses) Pepe le Pew in pursuit of an unseen offstage beauty. It's an oily uncomfortable spurt of queasy listening, brimming with 80s bleeptronica and breathy threats
'look out for me I'm behind that tree'. But still, something we pitched in to Tuesday's
Podrophenia playlist (and it's second appearance too)
Following some sparky banter on the message boards - Podrophonic regular Marmite Boy
nipped off to Amazon to review the 7" edition of Gotcha - and was soon followed by a
Flash Mob of Podrophenia reviewers - which we've now christened the Gotch Conga
Should you fancy lending an ear to the cold-dread horror of Gotcha - dig in below. Better yet we'd love to see
your critical scribblings on it written and recorded here.. at the Amazon Gotcha Conga
Back awhiles (two years) when we did our first couple of poddies round at his Piley's place, the techno setup was spectacularly ad-hoc.. with just one mic on the dangle. So in at the deep end then to be working a desk that looks staggeringly like Scotty's enegergizing gizmo re-patched with Colonel White style electrickery. This basement level boiler-house of a studio is where we fiddle with faders, jingles and PFL(?) buttons while pitching in a few tunes of a Tuesday evening, joined by our scrolling roll call of chums, companions, contributors and regular suggesterers.
Numbers was the theme of the week that was. Tonight, it's colours. Drakey Girl, Dave P, Gary, Johnny Medd and many more have all chipped in with some fine and funky colour coded specials including...
Gary's shout
One of Drakey's
You can grab last week's run-out here if you fancy (we're on at 3 mins in) - or retune your ears and internet connections and come on over to S6 Radio tonight
Hello bloggers and browers. Simes here, you may remember my resonant rumbles and mahogany tones from features like...
The BBFC intro's on clunky old VHS tapes., The Golden Hour, Our Tune*reaches for a large onion and a box of mansize Kleenex* Look loves, can't hang around I've got a show going over on Smoove and a couple of voice overs to crack off during the ad' breaks - but while I'm here how about a quicky game of The Golden Hour...
This timeless poppet of a tune could come from almost any era - sixties or seventies, nineties or naughties. Of course it can only be one of them... But - which, was the year
Planet Mondo and the Acme Corporation are proud to bring you the Instant Brian Eno Kit (72-74 edition)*
This deluxe and delightful easy to assemble three-part package has been lovingly crafted in Woodbridge and comes ready prepared with everything you need to become a self styled rock boffin or for generating your own Enossification and Cybernetics. Contents include...
A full set of Oblique Strategy Cards. Try before you buy here..
Simply post a blank Frank cheque to St John, le Baptiste, de la Salle, CPL5 93H allowing 28 days for delivery.. and you to can be squeaking, bleeping and remaking/remodelling glamouramic art project-pop like this
Here's something for your next pub quiz: did you know the wacky world of Rock n Roll even has it's own industry-specific illness? Tour Flu - when a virus takes hold in the cramped confines of the tour bus causing a collective infection amongst band mates. It was this rotten ol' lurgy that led to the Glitter Band's last minute cancellation of their Southend show on Monday. And we'd glammed up n'everything. Me - leopard skin and velvet (not quite as jarring as it sounds). Mrs M - looking pretty in pink.
Followed by a wave of boosts and beams when it was announced, trooper that he is, Captain Sensible would be pitching in with an ad hoc extended set for the evening .. I was lucky enough to catch up with Captain briefly before and after the show, a thoroughly lovely gent, but the poor ol' sausage (veggie sausage - natch!) was suffering some serious throat agg' himself and sounding for all the world like Weezy from Toy Story. So, none of us assembled Southenders were quite prepared for the rock 'n' rollercoaster ride that happened over the next seventy or so minutes
Opening with Captain's solo material, an ear-catching songbook of jangle, clang and Anglo-melodies, almost Kevin Ayers-ish topped off with poppier sensibilities. But, before you could say Captain (he said Wot!) we were racing and ripping through The Damned era hits - Love Song, Neat, Neat, Neat and Cap's Crass team up - (What d'Ya Give) The Man Who's Gotten Everything.
But then boys and girls, then, that infamous tribal, Glitter beat began working it's sordid, foot-stomping, hip-twitching magic and you're caught cobra-like, lost in the crazy rhythm - punching a fist in the air and shouting YEAH when Captain asks Do You Wanna Touch? (X 3)
And still the evening's doings weren't completely done. Through a few canny phone calls, bass player - ex Damned member and Hot Rodder Paul Gray - had located and roped in a solid gold local ledge, Barrie Masters, frontman of Eddie and The Hot Rods - looking for all the world like David Johansen meets Patrick Troughton - leaping on stage left and leading the Captain's gang into a hand-clapping run through of Do Anything You Wanna Do and Gloria.
When the band finally bailed after a second encore, they hung about the venue as if both punters and performers were sharing the same stunned, head-spinning experience at what magic had just crackled around the room. All created entirely on the fly by way of an improv' set list and a handful of rehearsed-that-afternoon tunes. An explosive, unfolding, one-off performance of musical winging and adrenaline riffing. An evening that could so easily have backfired became a high-firing night for all.
Highlights: Captain serenading Mrs M and I during Happy Talk's 'talk about the boy/girl' section. Hearing Cap's jangle and top-line soloing interlocking with Paul Gray's furious fingers and bass dynamics (I've literally never seen anyone drive a bass like this before..) The Captain's between song panto-banter. And post-show, chatting with Cap, the band and Hot Rods ledge Barrie Masters.
I've been to God knows how many gigs and seen The Damned multiple times over the years - but I've never seen anything that comes close to the sparky musicianship, fluid band mechanics and camaraderie of this event. And the 14th, which could have been a day of glumness (mum's first birthday since losing her) was lifted by the lingering afterglow of this glittering gig.
God bless Captain's solo outings and all who sail with him...
There's only two days left to catch Captain and gang in action....
Meet Richie Jackson the Australian skateboarder who's more Salvador Dali than 'surfer dude'. His look may be Robert Plant joins Jellyfish. But don't be misled by the Hobbiton hair and 'tache topiary. Richie's a psychedelic skateboarder with the surreal, high-flying fluid moves of the Silver Surfer. An eye-popping eccentric of mentalist inventiveness - think:Wilf Lunn meets Willy Wonka. Flipping, gliding and grinding over and around the unlikeliest urban furniture. Pavements, pipes, posts, rope chains, escalators - trees even! No boundary or bollard can contain his combustible skateboard combos.
Behold, boggle your eyes and blow your mind at the the screaming genius of Richie Jackson
Almost the missing link between The Monkees and Monty Python, I've never become bored of The Goodies at their best. And even now, my two tots drip fed on a digital diet of untold rolling, scrolling satellite channels and rapid-fire, multi-format entertainment, regularly ask for an episode of The Goodies..
So what a result then to bag a copy of their New LP for just one Earth pound in a local vinyl shop (Genie, Leigh Broadway). Untypically for TV comedy albums it's not all sketches, skits and sound effects. No, no,no - some slinky 'Superstition' style riffing can be found amongst the comedy songs - putting the fun into funky.
In the years BC (before Corduroy) Addison brothers (Big) Ben and (Great) Scott were the creative wonder-twins behind power-pop art, mod-rockers Boys Wonder - a high kicking explosion of Spock crops, polka dots, futuristic fashion student chic, Carnaby Street chords and Anthony Newley style show-vocals.
After only a handful of singles Boys Wonder made a stylistic switcheroo, trading in the Clockwork Mod clobber and space-punk sounds for shuffling dance drums, choppy house-style piano patterns and wah guitar riffs - along with a new wardrobe of long sleeve tees and British knights trainers. The Boys Wonder version 2 tunes were bubblegum with muscle. Cut and pastiche pop, borrowing from soundtracks, TV ads, other bands lyrics, horn riffs and guitar parts or rebranding corporate logos into Boys Wonder designs.
While other indie-kids were making woeful Mini-Morrisey moans, dressing in black DMs and floppy bobs, Boys Wonder were preempting the indie/dance crossover and Brit pop's cocky posturing. By the time the rest of the runners and riders had finally caught up, the trail had gone cold and the brothers Addison had moved onto Anglo-flavoured acid jazz (several steps ahead of the mid-90s lounge revival). But that's another tale for another time.
The first two tracks are from the Radio Wonder mini album. The third is ripped from the extremely limited white label only release of Keep It Up
The spirit of the season and a Christmas tingle finally took hold over the weekend. Fired by a medley of : the New York Dolls tinsel, glam and glitter at Friday's gig - how loud? Choco Girl popping by with homemade cards and crocheted tree trims. Piley, Coops and Marmite dropping round to record the Christmas podcast. A trip to my favourite pub decked out in festive finery and a rewatch of Scrooged starring NY Doll David Johansen as the cab-driving, stogie-chewing Ghost of Christmas past. All lit by a low-lying golden December sunlight.
All of which means it’s time to unwrap some winter warmers and set the yule blog ablaze by way of a blugrass shinding on Christmas Time's A Comin, and a ragtime tear-up on the jolliest, jauntiest version of Here Comes Santa Claus The Grascals - Christmas Time's A Comin'
