Miscellaneous - 3

  by Admin

published: 31 / 8 / 2013

Article

JAMIE ROWLAND (London) Probably the most memorable interview I have done for Pennyblack was actually two interviews, one after the other. I started in Camden’s Underworld talking to the Locust, the thrash metal/grindcore band from California. They were quite chatty and nice enough to me, but their gig was predictably anarchic, with people in the crowd seemingly driven insane by the sheer intensity of the number of notes-per-second. Some particularly excited revelers crowd-surfed onto the stage, which would be fine except the stage at Underworld is pretty small and there wasn’t really enough room for them to be rolling around up there. The Locust made sure to point this out to them; their bassist Justin Pearson giving one of the crowd-surfers a swift kick to the head to let him know he wasn’t welcome on stage. The next morning I headed to a more Northern, much posher area of London, to a nice, big hotel room where an American family were waiting to meet me. I was there to interview Smoosh, the double-act made up of two sisters aged 13 and 11. I spoke to them for less than ten minutes, but the younger of the two was particularly hungry and so the interview came to a close, and I was invited to join them, their mum and her friend for a cooked breakfast at a café round the corner. They asked me all about my interests and life, and probably got a much more thorough interview out of me than I did them. The juxtaposition of these two – pretty much polar-opposite – interviews has always stuck with me, and I think it’s as good an illustration of the eclectic coverage of Pennyblack as you’re ever going to get. Smoosh have since changed their name to Chaos Chaos, and they are both now older than I was when I interviewed them. A thoroughly sobering (read: depressing) thought. MAARTEN SCHIETHART (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) Good golly, this baby has turned 15. After the radio station I worked for shut down in May 2001, and after a thorough search on the web, I contacted John Clarkson. Since then he has spent well over 600 pounds on postage, and all I have done in return was to buy his girlfriend Mo and him a great lunch when we met up in Arnhem when he was on holiday in the Netherlands, but without the wine of our choice, alas. And also hand back over to him the excellent Rubik CD he had sent me months earlier. I owe many great albums, and insights, to his monthly selection. In their own right, those deliveries in the mail have become a treat. The post in the Netherlands once typewrote my address since John's handwriting proved impossible to decipher. John prints out my address now and sticks that on the jiffy containing the latest fab and crap. The diversity is astonishing, ranging from toe-cringingly dull Canadian 'indie' paid for by tax victims of North America, to the exhilarating Congotronics from Belgium's former colonies. I have even greater fun asking John to decide on what to send me. Then I act like a spoilt child secretly checking my presents on Christmas Eve, in great anticipation tearing away the wrapping. Initially, I sent in reviews of music that I genuinely cared for, but after a couple of years I came to discover the pleasures hidden in slagging things off. I had to ask John though about the meaning of 'Pennyblack' before I even knew that 'we' run fashion boutiques in Paris and in Milan. A website music magazine of distinction too, of which I'm rather happy to write reviews for actually. DOMINIC SIMPSON (London) Ah, memories…I remember buying from Pennyblack’s then online vinyl store Siouxsie and the Banshees’ cover of the Beatles’ 'Dear Prudence' back at the start of the noughties. From there, I noticed that they were advertising gigs on their homepage, so I went to one: the first PB night, in fact, at the Spitz - the best venue in London in the 2000s before it closed and my de facto gig local at that time. Saint Joan and Baptiste were on the bill, as I recall. I remember at a subsequent PB night being utterly blown away by Bikini Atoll (who would later morph into Joe Gideon & The Shark) and being mortified by a band called Lewd, whose singer uttered the opening lines: “We’re Lewd and we’re f**king great.” I interviewed a whole load of bands for the site, but my most amusing memory is of interviewing And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely for the website right onstage at Brixton Academy, just as the doors had opened (they were supporting Audioslave). He would keep prodding keyboards randomly throughout the interview, which would emanate farty noises, while an ever-increasing audience looked on with curiosity. When I began curating Pennyblackmusic’s live concerts, the second one I put on, at the Half Moon Herne Hill, was a hell of a night. The Rebel’s confrontational opening set led to mouths agape in the audience, both in horror and adulation, at songs such as '9/11 Rape Scene'. Then there was the Television Personalities headlining set. We’d heard the horror stories about the TVPs live, a result of singer Dan Treacy’s drug and alcohol habits, but had decided to ignore them. And for the first part of the set, everything worked well. A random woman in the audience got up onstage during 'Silly Girl' or 'Part-Time Punks', I can’t remember which, and played tambourine. It was a beautiful moment. Alas, Treacy then decided to go to the toilet mid-set, and (most likely) “tend” to his drug habit. By the time it came back onstage, it rapidly went downhill from there. At one point he called his bandmates “cunts” and accused them of “covering my songs when I’m not there.” One band member, disgusted, simply walked off the stage and out of the venue, never to rejoin the TVPs. And things went even more pearshaped from there on...since then, Treacy has been admitted to hospital and we wish him a speedy recovery. Back to Pennyblackmusic. So here’s to 15 years of great times, good vibes and great music. Thank you, John Clarkson and Richard Banks, for the fun along the way. We’ll be back on the live front – watch this space. ANTHONY STRUTT (Leicester) I first joined Pennyblack thirteen years ago at the start of the century, and have written since then well over a thousand articles and features about the wonderful world of live and recorded music, which still continues today but which changes all the time. Originally before I joined Pennyblack I wrote fanzines, a strange world of words written on a typewriter, sold or mostly given away. In the process, I have worked for Denny Laine and Ian McNabb, as well as producing my own zine. The internet has been a wonderful breeding ground to meet new friends, hear new music and for bands to build a bigger fanbase. When I joined the site, there were only about ten writers. There are many more now, but that's fine as new blood brings in new ideas. I'm happy with what I have done for Pennyblack and with being part of a great team, and the wonderful friends I have made through it, and look forward to doing much more for the site until my eardrums finally burst. Happy birthday, Pennyblackmusic! LISA TOREM (Chicago) After four years of interviewing artists, I’ve discovered that preparing for and often even engaging in these interviews, has wreaked havoc on my nervous system. Before my first Jimmy Webb interview, for example, I raced to Starbucks. In my haste, I locked myself out of the house but luckily found an open window to climb through minutes before speaking. Interviews don't always work out as planned...I spoke to Maria Muldaur whilst she was thundering through Bay area traffic for a doctor's appointment – is that why her vocabulary suddenly got very musical? One rocker responded in muffled tones - his stylist blow-dried his hair as we discussed collaboration. Despite fully researching our topics, we get surprises...Did Ian Anderson realize my knees were shaking in the background or was he too passionately involved in saving wildcats from extinction? My heart nearly fell out of its socket when Zombie Colin Blunstone sang 'She's Not There' in response to a personal question, and when Dave Davies explained the creation of the 'You Really Got Me’ riff I felt the seas had parted. Connecting with these musicians has been gratifying, educational and magical - a science geek might go back in time and speak to Alexander Graham Bell or a sculptor, Michelangelo. But, for me, documenting the words of my musical heroes is golden. Whether speaking to indie artists or legends that have repeatedly turned the world on its edge, I'm always grateful that they trust us to relay their thoughts and dreams. I hope I have done them justice. Happy 15th Pennyblack! Glad to be sailing on your shores! PAUL WALLER (Margate) Record companies used to give me such a hard time. I used to run a local fanzine with my then girlfriend (now wife) and review records I knew I wouldn’t like, and then give an honest and usually horrific review and publish the thing. The label of whichever band I decided to destroy that quarter (usually and justifiably it was a pop punk band called Yellowcard) would email me, totally outraged as soon as they read a copy; I found these emails so funny and entertaining that it would encourage me to keep going for just one more badly photocopied issue. Yet month after month I would still receive bundles of CDs sent by the same PR Companies. It was a cycle that got stale quickly; you can only listen to so much bad music before you implode. The writing bug did not though. So I began writing a book about my favourite music that was released in the 1980s. Today it is 302 pages long, and I am a quarter of the way through it. But it wasn’t enough. After a seven year break I got the itch to interview bands and review new albums again and, although I did speak to a couple of other sites and have had offers from people to write for them since, Pennyblackmusic was definitely the right choice. I reckon it was one of the greatest decisions I have made so far in my life. I feel fulfilled. I’ve been writing for them for three and a half years now and interviewed some of my childhood heroes, and exposed myself to some fantastic stories and equally fantastic new albums I wouldn’t have heard otherwise. I would never believe that I would be sharing Nirvana gossip with Miles Hunt from the Wonder Stuff, or discussing with Michael Gira from Swans which album he personally thought was his most rubbish effort, or having Scout Niblett singing obscure A-ha B-sides down the phone with me. But this and so much more has happened. Even this very month I spent an hour on the phone with Grant Hart, he of hardcore legends Husker Du, discussing religion, death and how he never gets a mention in the press without a lazy journalist mentioning Husker Du… (Whoops). Every article brings a fresh experience to my life and writing for Pennyblack shines a light on a path that I didn’t even know I wanted to take. That’s why I do it. I am not getting rich; I am simply fulfilling a passionate need every time I fire up my PC. So, happy birthday Pennyblack, and here’s to another fifteen years. CILA WARNCKE (Ibiza, Spain) I don’t remember how I encountered Pennyblackmusic, but I was very young and intoxicated at the prospect of free CDs in exchange for mere words. Turned loose on unsuspecting indie musicians, I grilled Bobby Wratten of Trembling Blue Stars then lent him my mobile phone. Got falling-down drunk with the Dreamy Records’ crew. Rhapsodised over 'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space', and drove from Philly to New York the night of my university graduation to review a Cinerama gig. Thanks in large part to these cuttings, I got a job at 'Q' and drifted away. Eight years later I was burnt out, writing promotional emails for an artist’s retreat in France. One went to John Clarkson, whose kind reply reminded me there are still niches where music journalism is fuelled by passion not ego. Welcomed back to the fold, I rediscovered the joy of working with an editor who is the most thoughtful, encouraging reader a writer could hope for. Pennyblackmusic is a rare creature: a truly independent site run with love and enthusiasm by unabashed music fans. That it has reached 15 is a tribute to the dedication, heart and loyalty of its many devoted contributors . It is a pleasure and a privilege to be part of this merry band. Here’s to another 15 years! DENZIL WATSON (Sheffield) I can't quite remember how I first came to write for Pennyblackmusic. I think I may have contacted the site trying to get a review for my band RepoMen's debut EP, and have been impressed by John Clarkson's infectious enthusiasm and taken up an offer to write for the then fledgling webzine. What I do know is that my first journalistic assignment was to do a live review of the Divine Comedy's gig at Sheffield University on March 12th 2000. Thirteen years, thirty three live reviews, eighteen interviews, five features and thirty record reviews later, I'm still excited by the prospect of writing for the now well-established 'Zine. The highlights? The mammoth hour plus phone interview with one of my punk-rock heroes, Jello Biafra. My Re:View article on Oedipussy's 'Divan' that lead to my forming a friendship with the ex-Perfect Disaster frontman Phil Parfitt. Reviewing those early Arctic Monkeys shows in Sheffield. To be honest, there's been too many highlights to mention as I have worked through my wish-list of musical luminaries I want to interview. So let's raise a glass to Pennyblackmusic as it goes from strength-to-strength. In an age where the weekly music press is now down to the 'NME', a publication whose pictures have got bigger and column inches smaller and one that seems far too preoccupied with trying to be a taste maker rather than reporting what is actually going on out there, then the need for the likes of Pennyblackmusic has never been greater.