Miscellaneous - June 2016

  by Admin

published: 16 / 6 / 2016

intro

Hello and welcome to the June edition of the Pennyblackmusic Magazine. There are as many people who have little time for John Lydon as there are those who admire him. Forty years on since

Hello and welcome to the June edition of the Pennyblackmusic Magazine. There are as many people who have little time for John Lydon as there are those who admire him. Forty years on since the Sex Pistols’ heyday, he continues to divide people in a way that no musician did before and few have done since. Opinionated (some would say over-opinionated) and foul-mouthed and having only mellowed ever so slightly with age, he remains a controversial figure. While nobody at Pennyblackmusic would deny his musical importance, he has detractors amongst our writers as well as fans For several of us, and particularly those – myself included –who had 70’s adolescences and upbringings, he, however, challenged us to start thinking for ourselves and about music, monarchy, politics and the way in which the world was run. It gives a great amount of pleasure for me to say that our lead interview is with John Lydon. He talks to Nick Dent-Robinson at a gig in Oxford on Public Image Limited’s current tour about his career with both them and the Sex Pistols, and PiL’s latest album, ‘What the World Needs Now’. With our other interviews this month, we have our usual mix of established and new acts. Amongst the established acts, Stiltskin and ex-Genesis singer Ray Wilson talks about his new acoustic album ‘Song For A Friend’, which was partially inspired by the death of a close friend, while Roger Taylor, the drummer with 80’s pop giants Duran Duran, chats about his group’s longevity. There are also interviews with former Shakespear’s Sister star Marcella Detroit on her new solo album, 'Grey Matterz' and cult-singer-songwriter Vinny Peculiar, whose latest solo record ‘Silver Meadows’ was inspired by his experiences working as a nurse in mental institutions in the 1980s and early 1990s. Amongst newer acts, there are interviews with James McCartney, the son of Paul and Linda McCartney, about his new solo album ‘The Blackberry Train’; harmonic American sister act SHEL about their second record ‘Just Crazy Enough’ and Oxford-based musician Pete Brown about his new project the NewGrass Cutters which does blues covers of classic rock songs. We also have interviews with Berlin-based self-described vintage pop the Jooles, and North West indie rock outfit the Ravellas whose latest single 'The Thunder' was chosen by Wigan Athletic as part of their Player of The Year celebrations. Isle of Man-based painter Eileen Schaer meanwhile chats to Owen Peters about her unusual paintings, her favourite musical acts and the influence of them on her art. Amongst our other highlights this month, Dave Goodwin in 'Vinyl Stories' writes of first discovering one of his favourite albums, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's 1980 second album 'Organisation', as a teenager and its impact on him over thirty five-years on. In her 'Raging Pages' book column, Lisa Torem examines 60's pop star Billy J. Kramer's new autobiography, 'Do You Want to Know a Secret?', while in our 'Re: View' section, in which our writers look at albums from the past, Kimberly Bright looks at country star Terry Allen's 1975 concept album 'Juarez' about two ill-fated lovers in New Mexico. As always, this magazine has come about because of the hard work of many talented people. Thank you to Darren Aston, Carl Bookstein, Kimberly Bright, Aaron Brown, Malcolm Carter, Nicky Crewe, Nick Dent-Robinson, Anthony Dhanendran, Dixie Ernill, Cat Goodwin, Dave Goodwin, Denise Hodgkinson, Keith How, Ben Howarth, Adrian Huggins, Adrian Janes, Vanessa Lourenco, Erick Mertz, Mary O'Meara, Owen Peters, Billy Seagrave, Melanie Smith, Anthony Strutt, Lisa Torem and Paul Waller, all of whom have contributed to this edition. Special thanks to our webmaster Richard Banks. We will be back towards the end of the month with an album and singles reviews only update, and then in early May with a full update with interviews, features, live reviews and more album and single reviews. We hope to feature interviews then with Black Grape, Janis Ian, Johnny Echols from Love, Henry Padovani, Sophia, Mammoth Penguins, the Cult of Dom Keller and Esperanza. Please don’t forget to check out our regular Facebook and Twitter updates. Thank you as always for reading Pennyblackmusic. John Clarkson Magazine Editor www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk Email: john.clarkson@pennyblackmusic.co.uk