Miscellaneous - April 2014

  by Admin

published: 3 / 4 / 2014

Article

Hello and welcome to the April edition of the Pennyblackmusic Magazine. For over a decade now our Bands Nights have been a large part of what we do at Pennyblackmusic. This summer, rather than focus on isolated events as we have done in the past, we are putting on three shows, one in London, one in Glasgow and another in Manchester. The first of these shows, which is our London gig, is on Saturday 31st May, and is our 15th Anniversary Gig. Postponed from last year after a flood at The Half Moon Pub in Herne Hill which remains still closed, it will now take place at The Lexington in Pentonville Road. We have gone for a “best of” selection for this with three of our favourite acts from previous London Bands’ Nights. The evening will be headlined by chanteuse Sukie Smith’s haunting and atmospheric Madam, who have a third album out later this year. Also on the bill are Brixton-based urban country outfit Morton Valence, who will be making a rare appearance as a duo. Finally there is much acclaimed indie supergroup Rotifer, whose third album ‘The Cavalry Never Showed Up’ was released on their own Gare du Nord label last September. Our second show is a week later on Saturday June 7that new venue The River in Clyde Street in Glasgow. The headline act is Grahame Skinner, the former frontman with Hipsway and Cowboy Mouth. “Skin” has recently released his first album in twenty years, ‘Back on the Horse’, and will be making a one-off solo acoustic appearance. The bill will also feature fiery young East Kilbride power pop act the Aviators; the cinematic and brooding A New International and popular local folk pop duo the Wellgreen. Our third and final show of the summer is at The Ruby Lounge in Manchester on Saturday July 5th. It will be headlined by seminal Bristol-based indie pop the Brilliant Corners, who have reformed after an absence of twenty years for one year only. The Ruby Lounge show will be their only Northern show before they break up again in September. The Manchester gig will also feature another Bristol-based act the Haywains, who have also reformed after a similar absence, and rising young local band Horsebeach, who draw comparisons with the early Smiths and whose debut single sold out within a day of its release in early January. Tickets for the London and Manchester shows are already on sale at WeGotTickets. A link to the London show can be found here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/255804 A link to the Manchester show can meanwhile be found here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/267706 Tickets for the Glasgow show will go on sale shortly, and more details about all three of these gigs can be found in our Regular Features section. Our lead interview for this month is with Henry Priestman. Henry Priestman was the songwriter and keyboardist in the bestselling 80’s act the Christians, and since then has gone on to write music for everything from wildlife documentaries to songs for musicals to the James Bond Xbox song. He has also recently started a much critically acclaimed solo career, and speaks to Ben Howarth about his just released second album, ‘The Last Mad Surge of Youth’. Other interviews for this month include former Cream bassist Jack Bruce about his new solo album ‘Silver Rails’; Starsailor frontman James Walsh about his first solo record ‘Turning Point’; blues maestro Robert Cray; composer JJ Jeczalik about his influential 80’s electropop act the Art of Noise, and former Jethro Tull drummer Barrie Barlow. We are also featuring two acts who have both returned after a long absence. Ex-Perfect Disaster vocalist Phil Parfitt speaks to us about his first album in twenty years ‘Phil Parfitt and Friends’, and Rolo McGinty from the Woodentops chats about his band’s third album and first release in twenty-six years, ‘Granular Tales’. In a two part interview, both parts of which we are running consecutively, and in what was her first interview in over thirty years, Bi Marshall, the original keyboardist with 80’s punk/new wave act the Sound, speaks about her ill-fated former band and its late singer Adrian Borland. Amongst more recent acts there are interviews with 60’s-influened American singer-songwriter Morgan Delt; much acclaimed metal band Uncle Acid and the deadbeats who have recently toured with Black Sabbath; Texas-based singer-songwriter Israel Nash Gripka; grunge act and recent Heavenly Recordings signing the Wytches; doom metal band Limb about their eponymous debut album and rising stoner rock act Black Moth. There is also an interview with author Jill Hughes Kirtland about her new book ‘Not Just Tits in a Corset’, which is about female metal musicians. Other highlights include the first part in a three part series on the making of the Velvet Underground’s 1967 second album ‘White Light/White Heat’; profiles of underrated 80’s act Nine Below Zero and the Norwegian music scene, and there is a film review of Jacques Demy’s musical ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’, which has just been released in a fiftieth anniversary edition. There are also sixteen live reviews and ‘Photoscapes’. Amongst our other Regular Features Dave Goodwin in ‘Vinyl Stories’ talks to Simon York, the front man in Luxury Stranger, about his favourite vinyl records; Anthony Dhanendran in ‘Ten Songs That Made Me Love…’ reflects on satirical indie act Half Man Half Biscuit; Mark Rowland in ‘Gig of a Lifetime’ writes of attending his first Flaming Lips gig at Lovebox in 2008, and Ben Howarth in ‘Condemned to Rock ‘n’ Roll’ examines some of the connections between sport and music. In our Re:View section, in which we look back at albums from the past, Jon Rogers reflects on the Blue Nile’s 1996 third album ‘Peace At Last’, which has just been reissued in a deluxe version with an additional CD. There are also 32 album and single reviews, As always this magazine has come together through the hard work of many talented people. Thank you to Carl Bookstein, Malcolm Carter, Nicky Crewe, Dastardly, Nick Dent-Robinson, Anthony Dhanendran, Dixie Ernill, Tom Fogarty, Tony Gaughan, Dave Goodwin, Bill Gray, Marie Hazelwood, Ben Howarth, Adrian Huggins, Adrian Janes, Mary O’Meara, Jon Rogers, Mark Rowland, Maarten Schiethart, Dominic B. Simpson, Melanie Smith, Anthony Strutt, Helen Tipping, Lisa Torem, Paul Waller and Denzil Watson, who have contributed either to this edition or our reviews only update in March. Special thanks to our webmaster Richard Banks for all his work behind the scenes and without whom none of this would be possible. We will be back in late April with a reviews update, and then in May with another full edition. We hope to run then interviews with the Delines, Death, Graham Gouldman, Vinny Peculiar, John Lennon’s half sister Julia Baird, ex MC5 manager and 60’s radical John Sinclair and Newport Jazz festival organiser George Wein. Please check out our regular Facebook and Twitter updates. Thank you as always for reading Pennyblackmusic, John Clarkson Magazine Editor www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk

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